F.A.T. Podcast Episode 76 – South Hill Cider

On this episode of the Food About Town podcast, I took a trip out to South Hill Cider just south of Ithaca to talk with owner, cidermaker, apple picker, musician and community orchardist Steve Selin. Steve was nice enough to invite us to visit his orchard and record the podcast in his beautiful wood shop located on site.

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Terroir is a term widely used in the wine industry and Steve is trying to showcase that philosophy with the ciders he makes. South Hill will be harvesting from their diverse orchard on site for the first time this year. This will showcase the heritage cider style apples and the land they are grown on. The orchard was designed to be harvested when each apple is optimally ripe and will be turned into the South Hill’s first estate cider which I am very excited to try.

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Although the orchard is new, terroir isn’t a new concept to South Hill. Steve has been highlighting single orchards for years that are either recovered from abandoned trees in the area like their Packbasket or from friends like the fabulous Stone Fence Farm. We shared a few different varieties and gave some notes on the podcast. I’d highly recommend checking out their products at either Joe Bean Coffee or Mullers Cider House in Rochester or grab a few bottles on their website.

I also learned that Steve had a passion for music and did work on string instruments in his woodworking shop. The intro song to the podcast is a song featuring Steve on the fiddle along with Richie Stearns on the banjo. I’m including the link here too along with a couple others because I really enjoyed learning more about this side of him.