Gold hill farms
Who: Mitchell Britt and Lauren Clauss
Where: Mouth of Wilson, Virginia
What apples: quite a few different apple varieties
How many bottles: about 12,000
Key facts: 2024 marks the first commercial release in North Carolina for this ambitious local couple.
Instagram: gold_hill_farm
Gold Hill Farm “Devotion - Foggy Ridge Blend”
Apples: The apples for this blend come from Diane Flynt in Dogspur, Virginia. She is a retired cider maker who still maintains orchards. This is the second year Gold Hill Farm have worked with Diane’s fruit. The 2023 apple harvest was small and this cider represents a blend of many varieties, as overall production was limited. A field blend of Father Abraham, Mother, Roxbury Russet, Dabinette, Cox, Pomme Gris, Ribston and a few other rare English and Appalachian varieties.
Method of fermentation: Traditional method. Naturally sparkling. Aged six months on lees. Unfiltered, unfined. Minimal sulphites and manipulation.
Bottles made: Total production for the vintage across all ciders was 12,000 bottles
Gold Hill Farm “Devotion - Virginia Field Blend”
Apples: The apples for this cider came from the Shenandoah valley. It is a mix of Roxbury Russet, Cox’s Orange Pippin, Esopus Spitenzburg, Tremletts Bitter, Ashmeads Kernel and Rhode Island Greening.
Method of fermentation: Traditional method. Naturally sparkling. Aged six months on lees. Unfiltered, Unfined. Minimal sulphites and manipulation.
Bottles made: Total production for the vintage across all ciders was 12,000 bottles.
Mitchel Britt and Lauren Clauss have been a part of our disparate community for quite some time. Mitchell was an ardent fan of 3 CUPS, a wine/coffee/tea business that I co-owned in the early 2000’s. Once Piedmont Wine Imports was a viable entity, he was keen to promote and sell our wines at Krankie’s, the coffee roaster, bar, and restaurant that grew out of a collective art space in downtown Winston-Salem. Mitchell was a partner in the expansion and evolution of that project, an entity that became an anchor around which that city’s urban rebirth extended. He also poured time and attention into Single Brothers, a forerunner in the craft beverage movement in the triad. His initial passion for quality single-origin coffee transferred to terroir-driven wine. It became common over the last decade to see the couple at wine tasting events around the community. Eventually Mitchell moved to retail work and bartending at W-S stalwarts Caviste, and exciting upstart Little Pep.
He seems a sponge for information, and work. At their farm in Mouth of Wilson, Virginia, Mitchell and Lauren have been planting hundreds of additional apple trees per year, building self-sufficiency while also sourcing quality fruit from friends. Among their coterie of growers is Diane Flynt, a legend in the local apple farming community. At 3CUPS we sold her exceptional and wholly unique Foggy Ridge ciders, products unlike anything I’d ever tasted from the southeastern United States. The key to Diane’s success was always having outstanding heirloom varieties in her orchard. Fifteen years ago I traveled to Galax, Va. to see her small cidery, an efficient, modern structure that Flynt recently turned into an agriturismo. With pickling/lactofermentation genius April McGreger as accomplice, we picked ramps on the hillsides close to Diane’s farm, and learned about the venerable history of apple cultivation in our region. Now Diane’s apples are a hot quantity among the burgeoning cider making community. I’m glad a small portion of her production has landed in Mitchell and Lauren’s hands.
We are partnering with a farm that is at the outset of its commercial production. For a couple of years now Mitchell has been stopping by, generously sharing with us barrel samples and experiments. He did some apprenticing at Mollychomper, a larger successful cider maker in (sadly hurricane-affected) Lansing, NC. After stage and study, 2024 was the year where Gold Hill Farms took a big leap forward in terms of “realness.” Cuvees were agreed upon, labels created, and approved for sale by the state ABC!
Cider isn’t my passion. Luckily, Mitchell and Lauren make bottles that taste more like Loire white wines than Basque ciders. The duo explained that apples are simply the best fruit base for their ambitions of farming in this terroir, where grapevines only sporadically yield world-class fruit. The linear, low alcohol, naturally low CO2 style they are exploring is an easy transition for drinkers of dry Chenin or Riesling in search of something fresh to explore. The two ciders we sell from Gold Hill Farm are remarkably food-versatile. I highly recommend sourcing some quality Selles-sur-Cher, Valencay, or similarly chalky, alluring French cheese to pair with them. It’s a memorable start to a meal. Mitchell and Lauren’s ciders can follow your gastronomic wanderings in many directions.