My last stop on my two-day tour of the Fraser Valley was at Taves Estate Cidery and their associated family farm.  You can easily spend a whole day here if you have children as they will be fascinated by all the farm animals.  They can pet and feed rabbits, goats, and more.  I enjoyed petting the animals, and taking a hayride trip through the orchard, but my main goal was to meet with owner, Loren Taves, and to sample some of their ciders.

Loren started farming in 1986, but grew up there years earlier.  He needed a summer job so one year he started planting some gooseberries to sale.  The business started growing and he decided to continue with it, adding raspberries.  Farming was a part-time job for their family but progressed to full-time as the plantings grew.  Loren planted Jonagold apples in 1989 and slowly planted more apples until they also became full-time apple farmers in 1990.  At that time they were only selling apples. Some apples couldn’t sell, due to a defect, like a mark on the skin or colouration, so they started to make juice from these apples, which later led them to ferment the juice to make cider.

Loren notes that some cider drinkers prefer the English-style dry, bitter ciders, but the majority of West Coast visitors prefer off-dry, fruity ciders. Taves produces both types of cider. They plant heritage cider apples as well as eating apples that we normally enjoy.  They grow perry pears that is also made into cider.  His cider maker experiments with their ciders, adding pumpkin, raspberries, goji berries, and black currants for additional flavour. These fruits are grown locally at the farm or nearby.

One interesting feature about the label is that all have a billy goat on the back label plus a specific farm animal or bird on the front labels, such as a crow on the Pete’s Perry and Pumpkin Perry ciders, and a pig on the Charlie’s Pumpkin cider.

Taves Estate Cidery is open from April 1st till the end of November each year. In the summer they can get up to 700 cars a day. Pumpkin season is also popular with visitors.

My Cider Tasting Notes

Taves Estate Cidery Nanny’s Nicest – Nice ripe apple nose.  Medium sweetness. Fresh apple flavour and creamy bubbles. Medium-plus acidity and body. It is indeed a nice sip.

Taves Estate Cidery Ram’s Black Currant – Medium orange colour.  Light black currant nose.  Off-dry with medium-plus body and acidity.  Black currant flavour and drying tannins.  Medium length.

Taves Estate Cidery Charlie’s Pumpkin – Clear colour. Interesting, smoky nose.  Off-dry, medium-plus body and medium acidity.  Not overtly tasting of pumpkin but overall, it was tasty.

Taves Estate Cidery Genji’s Goji Berry Cider – It also has some raspberry and ginger included to complement the goji berry.  It has a light raspberry colour.  Dry, medium-plus body with a lean mouthfeel.  Some sweetness, leading to a dry finish.  Light fruit flavours.

Taves Estate Cidery Harley’s Hopped – a cider with hops added.  It has a floral nose.  Dry with higher acidity.  Floral and hops flavours. Crisp fruit.  Very tasty.

Taves Estate Cidery Pete’s Pumpkin – made with perry pears and pumpkin.  Light apple aroma.  Medium sweetness. Floral, pears, pumpkin and sweet spices on the palate.  One of my favourites along with Harley’s Hopped.

Taves Estate Cidery Tux’s Treasure – Blackberry Vanilla – A deep, clear rhubarb colour.  Blackberries and vanilla on the nose.  Medium sweetness and medium-plus acidity.  Floral, sweet blackberries and vanilla on the palate. Some drying tannins on the finish.  Loren mentioned that this cider is very popular lately making 60% of sales.

Taves Estate Cidery Gander’s Gooseberry – Medium sweetness and acidity.  Tart flavours with a lightly drying finish.

Taves Estate Cidery Vintage – took the traditional batch and refermented then put in bourbon barrels for around 1 year.  It is a very dry cider and high alcohol at 11%. Light sweet spice and apple aromas.  Dry, medium-minus body with a lean mouthfeel.  Ginger pepperiness (while there is no ginger used) and apple on the palate. Lightly drying tannins along with some bitterness. Quality.

Touring the Taves Family Farm

As I mentioned earlier, besides sipping cider, you can enjoy a visit to their farm.  There are many farm animals to pet and feed, a hayride around the orchard area, fruits and vegetables to buy, and food to eat.  Spend a whole day here.  Below are some pictures of what you can see, plus a short video of the hayride.  Enjoy.

Thank you to Tourism Abbotsford for setting up my visit to Taves Estate Cidery.

Where Can I Buy These Ciders?

You can purchase these ciders online at the Taves Estate Cidery website.  They also have a wide distribution through private shops.  You can see the list of vendors at this web link.

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