Brännland Cider releases the latest vintage of its flagship ice cider Brännland Iscider 2019 in June. This is the core ice cider with which the company started its production and continues to lead and shape a small portfolio which, from 2021 and onwards, will be focused entirely on ice cider.
The vintage differs from previous years as a result of the 2019 harvest being markedly different than 2018. Where the 2018 was a record year both in terms of fruit quality and harvest volume, 2019 was the opposite. Harsh conditions at flowering and pollination and a weak harvest. The 2019 was a sigh in comparison to the previous vintage which can be said to be the best Swedish harvest in decades. Apple trees also need their rest.
As a result of the harvest conditions we were left with a much smaller volume of apples to work with in 2019. In order to balance the raw material, work hours and final production volumes we decided to extract at a slightly lower sugar level than we normally do.
The result is a different ice cider but we don’t think that the difference is temporary. The 2019 presents itself as a wine that is even closer to the core of ice cider, or soul if you will, and we are more than happy to stay in that expression.
At bottling the vintage is light and ethereal and at present it shows more white flowers than heavy apple character. Drinkable now but with a strong integrity for long ageing. In spite of its lightness the vintage does not lack concentration.
We’ve chosen to bottle the wine as tight as possible to give it even more potential for long ageing.
– Andreas Sundgren, founder, Brännland Cider
This vintage is the Greta Garbo of vintages. Elegant and skittish but also powerful and complex. The slightly lower sugar levels this year is giving the wine crunch factor. A pleasure to serve now, and most likely for next couple of decades.
– Joel Welander, Winemaker
