Our Philosophy & Mission
Freewater provides high quality cider and wine sourced from local fresh ingredients. Our products contain no artificial flavoring or coloring and are made in small batches to maintain the quality of our hard cider and wine.
Ciders
We believe that, just as grape varieties manifest unique characteristics on wine, so apple varieties will have the same impact on cider. We ferment all our apples by individual variety to allow the essence of the apple to shine through. In order to maximize flavor, acid and tannins, we macerate and ferment our apples to dryness on their skins, in small 1.5 ton batches. To avoid fining, filtration and other manipulation, we age our ciders in french oak barrels for 1-2 years. We are dedicated to producing our ciders from apples only-nothing is added…or needed!.
Wines
All of our grapes are meticulously sourced from some of the top vineyards in the Walla Walla and Columbia Valleys. We feel it is crucial that we work with wine growers that share our passion for producing high quality wines that express the vineyards unique terroir. Our wines are produced with gentle handling and little manipulation to allow for full varietal expression. To achieve rich, full bodied wines, all fermentations are done in small batches with gravity assisted pump-overs and punch-down for cap management. The wines are then gently aged in french oak barrels for 18-20 months.