Canadian Ciders for Summer
August 4, 2020
Visit to Salt Creek Cider House
August 20, 2020
Sauvie Island farmers, Jen and Travis Lovejoy announce the launch of Peak Light Cider. The couple, with their three children, have been farming on Columbia River’s largest island, ten miles Northwest of downtown Portland for five years now.
The Lovejoys called their home, Pivot Farm, part in reference to the change in their life upon moving to Sauvie. And pivot they have— from educators to farmers to cidermakers. With 65 apple varieties flourishing on 10 picturesque rural acres, they found they had heaps of fruit and plenty of work to do, both caring for the land day-to-day and figuring out how to close the agricultural loop from farm to table. They wanted to see their bounty of fruit go to good use.
Farming isn’t exactly new to the Lovejoys. Jen grew up on an Eastern Washington family farm and could run the wheat harvest with her siblings by the time she was in high school. Travis remembers his grandfather hand weaving nets for fishing expeditions into interior Kauai and always raising a family garden. Both find great value in working on the land and believe agriculture should be purposeful. Travis and Jen wanted to do something intentional with their apples that would help build community. Cider was the answer.
Over the last year and a half, the Lovejoys dug in— from soil to bottle, learning the ins and outs of orcharding and cidermaking. With the fermented juice from their 2019 harvest, Peak Light Cider was born. The family is committed to sustainability, employing organic and biodynamic farming practices. Their holistic approach results in clean, wholesome, flavorful fruit.
Peak Light Cider launches July 2020 with four unique offerings: Orchard Reserve Quince (750ml), Orchard Reserve Red (750ml), Field Run Dry (500ml) and Field Run
Semi-Dry Ciders (500ml). All four Peak Light ciders feature blends of apples from the estate orchard. Much like the production of grape wine, specific apple varieties are selected for their naturally occurring sugars, acids, tannins and overall taste profile. The finished cider is lightly carbonated to effervescent, ensuring the complexities and nuances of the fruit still come through.
To connect cider drinkers to the land and offer education about apple varieties, the label back panels of Peak Light ciders feature a map of the Sauvie Island orchard, highlighting the individual trees apples came from for each cider with accompanying tasting notes. One of the Orchard Reserve ciders features farm grown quince in addition to apples, while the other is a deep ruby hue, the result of pressing red-fleshed apples.
All 4 Peak Light Ciders are available to order online with direct shipping to 38 states. The Field Run Dry and Semi-Dry will also be available at select retail partners in the greater Portland region soon!
To further build community, the Lovejoys are launching a club, Peak Light Cider Circle. Cider Circle offers members the ability to receive 6 bottles shipped direct to their door every 3 months at a discount. The debut Cider Circle shipment goes out mid-August, sign ups are happening now!
At the end of the day, the golden hour at Pivot Farm is a special one— surrounded by the Columbia and Willamette Rivers and Multnomah Channel with sweeping views of rural farmland and iconic snow-capped mountains of the Pacific Northwest framing the orchard. This expansive vista, the warm, soft light and sensation it evokes helped inspire the name, Peak Light. Peak Light is a moment for pause and appreciation, a moment that feels like coming home. Jen and Travis like to imagine a taste of coming home in every bottle.
