Sonoma Cider rides the wave
Father-son team reinvented beverage for now-booming industry
David and Robert Cordtz are the father-andson team behind Sonoma Cider in Healdsburg. The elder Cordtz, David, was a veteran winemaker before he teamed up with Ace Premium Craft Ciders in the early 1990s to become the first modern-day commercial cider maker in California. Robert has worked in the industry since he was a teenager.
Cider is one of the fastest-growing categories in the beverage industry in the United States, a trend seen in California, too. “There are over 50 cideries in California,” says David Cordtz, “whereas eight years ago, there were probably three or four.”
Today, Sonoma Cider is the only certified organic cidery in the United States with national distribution. It recently released three limitededition summer ciders: Jax, an apple cinnamon cider with toasted buckwheat, inspired by Apple Jacks cereal; Wimble, a rhubarb gose-style cider with the signature sourness of a gose beer tempered with a bit of sea salt; and Crowbar, a habanero lime cider that required 17 gallons of bright orange habanero juice, a respirator, goggles and gloves to make. The company also recently released its first spirit, an apple brandy in the style of French Calvados. And there’s more: A taproom next to the cidery (44 Mill St.) is set to open by early fall.
Here are 10 pressing questions for David and Robert Cordtz: 1. How has the cider business changed since Sonoma Cider launched three years ago? Robert: It’s a lot like the beer industry where Budweiser, Bud Lite and Coors Lite (sales) are staying flat or dropping off a little bit and people are all leaning toward the craft brands. The beer industry in general is growing slowly, but craft is exploding. 2. What are common misconceptions about your cider? David: I think a lot of people think it’s sweet. It’s a dry, wonderful beverage that is not necessarily something that has 40 grams of sugar per serving. Some of ours have less than 1 gram of sugar per serving. 3. How do you explain cider’s rise in popularity? David: A lot of craft cideries, like Sonoma Cider, have started making drier cider. The big brands are all very sweet, and I think by making a drier product, it opened the category up to a lot of craft beer drinkers. Robert: A lot of people are very interested in fermentation, in general, so there are a lot of people who are making home brew now. People have a general interest in fermenting anything, and cider is a pretty easy entry as far as trying to ferment it at home. 4. Who drinks hard cider? David: A pretty broad demographic but mainly Millennials, which drive a lot of alcohol categories. It is enjoyed almost exactly 50 percent by men and 50 percent by women. 5. What are the challenges in making cider? Robert: One of the challenges that home cider makers have is letting it ferment too warm. If you
“A lot of craft cideries, like Sonoma Cider, have started making drier cider. The big brands are all very sweet.” David Cordtz, Sonoma Cider
ferment it too warm, it’s going to end up tasting like cardboard or buttery popcorn. If you have wild yeast in there, you can also have spoilage yeast, making it really sour or barnyard-y.
6. How do you ferment the juice?
David: We don’t let our apple juice ferment too hot and too fast. If you ferment apple juice at too high of a temperature and allow it to ferment too quickly, it has a tendency to cook the fruit out of it, and you wind up with a bitter cider that is lacking the high, bright fruit tones. We want the high fruit tones without the sweetness.
7. How long does it take to ferment? David: Fermenting really cold, it takes over three weeks, and then we blend after that.
8. Are there rules to pouring or drinking cider like there are with beer and wine?
David: You can drink it out of a water glass or any way you want. A lot of people drink cider over ice or on the rocks, and there’s no stigma or stereotype to doing that. It’s all about what you like — what pleases you. There aren’t any strict traditions yet — at least in the United States.
9. What advice would you give to someone who wants to become a cider maker? David: If you have a passion to start a cidery, then don’t let anybody stop you. It’s going to be hard work, harder than anything you’ve done in your life, but if you’re passionate about it, keep going and you’ll be successful.
Robert: And don’t plan on getting any weekends.
10. What’s the best advice you ever received about running your own business? David: Write a business plan. You think it’s common sense, but a lot of people starting beverage companies don’t. Raise 10 times more money than you think you need.