Celebrate Spring at La Pommeraie Bistro

To tantalize your taste buds, la Pommeraie Bistro is hosting cider pairing dinners throughout the months of March and April every Friday and Saturday evening. The advent of spring brings fabulous fresh ingredients so our chef, Dave Woolfall, is creating a new four course meal to engage your palette. Each course is paired with one our ciders and you will have the opportunity to taste our limited production of Forbidden Fruit, an ale made in collaboration with Phillips Brewing Company, and our soon to be released distilled products, Pomme O, Mure O and other Eaux de Vie. Our cider pairing dinner will change periodically throughout this budding spring season, so stay tuned for updated menus. (And of course our regular dinner menus will also be available.) And if a mid-day meal is what you're hankering for, we're also open for lunch Wednesday through Sunday too.

The bistro is open for dinner Friday and Saturday evenings from 5:00, and for lunch from noon until 3:00.

Join us for Easter Weekend March 21 - 24

Wondering what to do with your family and guests this coming Easter weekend? Come to Merridale Ciderworks and la Pommeraie Bistro for a full day of activities. Tour the orchard and cellar. Sip award-winning cider at the Ciderhouse. View the Brandihouse to witness the distillery making our new Pomme O and Mure O. Nibble on our fresh bread, croissants, large pretzels and other Easter goodies baked fresh in our outdoor brick oven. And when we have fully engaged your senses, pull up a chair at la Pommeraie Bistro to enjoy our special Easter feast with your family and guests. (Here's the menu.) The Easter faeries have left a treasure hunt for the wee ones joining us for lunch on Easter day, so please let us know ahead of time if children will be in your lunch party.

Reservations are recommended at la Pommeraie Bistro and can be made at (250) 743-4293 or toll-free at 1-800-998-9908.

Merridale's Bakery is Open every Friday through Sunday

The wood burning brick oven, an ancient cooking technology, is much sought after by bakers, chefs and eager appetites alike for its spectacular results. The heat generated by the wood fire is absorbed by the masonry walls, and evenly released to cook the foods inside. Very high temperatures are reached, so the food cooks quickly, without burning around the edges or bottom. Using Merridale's wood-fired brick oven, master baker Alain Boisseau showcases the taste and texture of his artisanal breads, apple pies, brioches, croissants, along with special Easter goodies for the coming holiday at our bistro. An experienced baker trained in France, Alain's recipes have been passed down through his family's long and deep-rooted line of Cognac wine makers and bakers.

When coming in for some of Alain's bread and other baked goods, also consider the fine accompanying selection of local cheeses from our deli fridge, Merridale soups and chutneys ready to take away, and a delicious bottle of your favourite cider to quench your thirst. Voilà: you have the perfect ingredients for a relaxing homemade evening, just add the company!

And remember, if you're looking for baked goods for Easter, place your order early!

Merridale is Open for Your Wedding Bookings and Private Parties

Imagine a warm breeze stirring the folds of your gown as you breathe a sigh of contentment, hearing the trickle of water through rocks as it makes the journey to the sparkling pond below, seeing the green of the surrounding trees against the clean white of perfectly placed wedding tents, and tasting the joy of a perfect setting with the people you love to share your most special day. A wedding at Merridale is a dream come true and we would love to have the opportunity to share with you our beautifully and recently enhanced venues as well as our unique wedding menus. And while the majority of our special events are weddings, we welcome private parties too: e.g., reunions, birthdays, and corporate events. We still have a few weekends open for 2008. Please contact our Event Co-ordinator at info@merridalecider.com or peruse our website for more.

Update on the Brandihouse

Through the fall and winter our still has been boiling along in the Brandihouse. We have been making apple and blackberry eaux de vie for some of our new products to be released in the Spring. We are excited about the first two that will soon be ready for tasting.

The first is a blend of blackberry juice and our own blackberry eau de vie to make a dessert drink, at 20% alcohol, that tastes like fresh blackberries. (Distiller Rick Pipes works on the berry mash for that eau de vie there in the photo.) The next is even more exciting. We have taken fresh pressed apple juice and started the fermentation in French oak barrels. At just the right moment, we have added some of the apple eau de vie we've made throughout December and January. This addition is as much art as science: the timing is critical enough that if we do it a couple of hours too early or too late, the taste is not correctly balanced. Adding this high alcohol brandy stops the fermentation and preserves some of the natural sweetness and bouquet of the apples. The result is a smooth, complex apple juice at 20% alcohol. Then to add to the complexity, it continues to age in the French Oak Barrels until it is bottled. We think that it will be ready for bottling in April, or May...but nature controls this process!

Everything is on schedule in the Orchard

We have finished our pruning and we are awaiting our spring blossoms. Full blossom is expected in late April through early May, and so far, everything is on schedule. Come witness the magic of spring at Merridale, as the blossoms bloom and the bees buzz, giving you the perfect opportunity to learn about our rural lifestyle. Our orchard walk enchants and educates all at the same time. Learn about the cider apples planted in Canada's largest cider apple orchard, and understand the noble beginning of cider. Marvel at the local plant and flora, indigenous rock and wildlife and see if you can spot the apple blossom faeries that are rumoured to live here. Kids will have fun on the faerie treasure hunt as they look for our little helpers that are so busy in our orchard and cellar. Minors are welcome to purchase a taste of soft cider...that is, of our unfermented apple juice, of course.

Coming Up This Summer

Looking ahead to when spring rolls into summer in the orchard, longer nights are yours to enjoy at Merridale. Imagine yourself on our back deck overlooking a wood burning fireplace surrounded by a vista of apple trees, meadows, and pond.

Friday nights are for BBQs.      This summer we will host a line up of musical talent from around the Cowichan Valley starting at 5:00pm on the back deck. Match that with a meal straight from our BBQ - both rich in flavour and elegant in its simplicity - with a casual and fun atmosphere that will make this your Friday night meeting place with friends, family and co-workers.

Sunday nights are for pizza and jazz.      Back by popular demand, our Sunday nights begin at 5:00pm. Our pizzas are baked in the outdoor brick oven on sourdough crusts, and topped with fresh ingredients. Sitting on the back deck, you will be able to watch your pizza getting baked while local young lions of the jazz world will keep your toes tapping: this summer we have invited the rising young stars of the Valley to perform.