APRIL 2019 • COUNTRY LIFE IN BC


35


Orchard presses forward with diversification BX Press Cidery now grows 30 varieties of apples and crabapples


by MYRNA STARK LEADER


VERNON – BX Press Cidery has come a long way since 2011, when Missy Dobernigg finished studying cider- making in Washington and made her first 2,000 litres of apple cider – or rather, apple cider vinegar. She poured it into the


snow, and looked to the future.


The cidery sits on the mountainside property of her father-in-law’s 40-acre Vernon apple orchard. The farm has been in the family for three generations. Her husband Dave’s grandfather purchased the orchard in 1946 from William Pound, who’d started it in the 1920s. Dave has been farming full-time with his father John for 20 years. When Missy and Dave were married and started their family in the Okanagan, she started pursuing dry cider at the orchard because she could see intrinsic value in the apples, which included Spartan, McIntosh, Golden Delicious, Ambrosia, Gala and Honeycrisp. “A cidery can take many


forms,” says Dobernigg, “but we believe the best cider is made in the orchard because the most important part is the apples.”


Business plan in hand, they


re-mortgaged their home to start the business after bank financing wasn’t forthcoming. Six years later, production stands at 75,000 litres, up from 6,000 litres in 2013. The cidery has enabled them to diversify the orchard. A variety of apples and crabapples give the cider a


balance of acid, tannin and sugar. Like a good wine grape, an apple (or blend of apples) needs to bring these three components to the juice before fermenting. BX has grafted cider apple varieties onto older apple stock. The five varieties grown in the past for the table market have become 30, mostly in support of cider production. Since most traditional cider varieties were chosen for the cooler UK climate, it’s been a challenge to find varieties that produce reliably in the hot Okanagan. “Research is needed on


disease-resistant cider-apples that can produce consistently in our region,” says Dobernigg, adding that local cidermakers need more apples.


While growers are hesitant to plant cider varieties, a key advantage is that they don’t need to look perfect so they need fewer inputs than fresh market varieties. This means Dave still has time to produce premium varieties such as Ambrosia and Honeycrisp for BC Tree Fruits. BX Press was named


Greater Vernon Business of the Year in 2018 as well as Manufacturer of the Year. They’ve also won numerous medals every year since 2013 in national and international competitions.


Dobernigg has worked


hard to create a great product, but she’s also focused on marketing. She won Marketer of the Year in 2014. Today, BX produces 14 ciders which it sells through a tasting room opened in 2014


characters who would’ve been around at the time. “Farmers are so


overwhelmed with work sometimes that they don’t see what they have to offer the public in terms of an experience,” she explains. “If you look through our social media, it’s all our own pictures. We tell our own story, which creates a high level of trust from our customers.”


She also highlights


growing all the apples used in the product which is 90% of what is in each bottle. For the other flavours, BX uses real fruits and botanicals, such as cardamom, cinnamon, juniper, orris root, coriander, lavender, vanilla and hops. Although they sometimes consider growing some of the other ingredients for their ciders, they prefer to support other BC growers by purchasing BC-grown haskaps, cherries, cranberries, blackcurrants, hops and lavender, amongst others. As the business grows,


Missy Dobernigg has given her family’s orchard new life by focussing on cider apple varieties to fuel their on-farm cidery. SUBMITTED PHOTO


as well as private liquor stores and restaurants across BC. This spring, it’s hoping to add a picnic and lounge area. “Customers want to


connect with each other and with the land,” she says. Bottles are 500 ml each,


perfect for sharing. A self- guided walking tour takes visitors along the production line, visible through glass windows. BX offers high-end dinners at $140 a plate


between the orchard rows. Story-telling has been key. Both the cidery and the products have been intentionally named. In the mid 1800s, their land was home to where the Barnard’s Express stagecoach company raised their horses. The company serviced the Cariboo gold fields, hence the BX name. Cidery products, like The Prospector and The Bandit, pay tribute to


profits continue to be reinvested. Personally, she says, the first three years running a new operation were about survival, but now she’s working to develop more leadership skills as her in-house staff grows. Jokingly, she calls the


cidery her “fourth baby,” but today she’s learning to let others help with the management and key responsibilities such as taking customer orders, managing the cider club, or planning for events – things she hopes continue to grow just like the taste for cider.


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