Cider Chat

An early conversation that explored possibilities cider was only beginning to consider. As Cider Chat moves toward its 500th episode, we revisit conversations from the earliest seasons, taking a long view of the moments that quietly shaped where cider and this podcast would go. This episode, originally recorded in Season One, features legendary winemaker Randall Grahm, founder of Bonny Doon Vineyard and a James Beard Award winner. At the time, inviting a winemaker onto a cider podcast felt like stepping outside the expected boundaries of the category. Looking back now, it marked a turning point. Long before many of these topics became common discussion in cider, this conversation explores: indigenous and wild yeast fermentation the use of pied de cuve to build healthy native fermentations beginning fermentations de novo each vintage blending philosophy borrowed from wine quince used as structure and aroma rather than juice perry through a winemaker's lens antique fruits like medlars cider as an expression of