Seminar “Exploring the Trends and Challenges of the Cider World”
September 8, 2023, from 09.00 – 13.00
Location: Kipsala International Exhibition Centre Ķīpsalas iela 8, Riga, Latvia
Registration is closed, places are fully booked. 

Let's come together for a discussion on the trends, challenges, and plans for Nordic/Baltic craft ciders from a global and practical perspective. To make it even more fruitful, some fruits will also participate 'in person' in the seminar room – an exhibition of cider and pear varieties cultivated by the Dobele Institute of Horticulture, Latvia. Let's also explore how involvement in culinary tourism can open up new perspectives for cider.

9:00 Coffe, registration. An exhibition of cider and pear varieties cultivated by the Dobele Institute of Horticulture, Latvia.

10:00 - 13:00 Seminar

A vision of the role of cider in the spectrum of Baltic drinks and culinary tourism / Asnate Ziemele, Baltic Country Holidays, Latvia
Overview of cider making in Latvia – the variety of craft cideries and their ciders, methods of cider making, cultivation of cider apple gardens, the market, future developments and main challenges. The motivation to be involved in tourism and the role of cider in the Baltic culinary tourism routes.

Growing the Nordic and Baltic cider producers’ network / Johan Sjostedt, Sweden
The ambition of various trade organizations, producer clusters, and network partners in the Nordics and Baltics is to foster cross-border cooperation among cider producers in the region. This entails establishing a Nordic and Baltic cider network, implementing knowledge-sharing initiatives, and collaborating on projects that prioritize value creation in cider and tourism within these countries. The recently established Nordic International Cider Awards (NICA), a rotating international cider conference and competition hosted by different Nordic and Baltic countries is a good example of cross border cooperation.  

Cider Pommages for Nordic Regions / Claude Jolicoeur, Canada
Cider makers in nordic regions face special challenges when it comes to selecting the best apple varieties for cider making. We can also observe trends in regions where cider making traditions did not exist previously (like in the Nordic and Baltic countries): cider makers first use local market dessert apple varieties to subsequently incorporate ancestral varieties and European cider apples, with the ultimate goal to develop original regional pommages that are well-suited to specific regions.

Future Tastes / Tom Oliver, UK
The acid versus tannin showdown. Is the current worldwide production of cider, currently based on using discarded eating apples, (frequently with other fruits and sugars added) going to make the way forward for the more complex, tannic based apple ciders a bigger challenge in the market place? Too tasty? Too challenging? Too demanding?

Terroir and impacts / Darlene Heyes, USA
Growing the same apple variety in very different places results in a very different profile, both in terms of flavor and in terms of chemistry. Results of research and experiments with Kingston Black, Dabinett, and Gravenstain apple varieties illustrate this phenomenon. To explore the variations in terroir, we will taste samples of 2 Kingston Blacks from different parts of the US in addition to the Gravenstein from California and Norway.

13:00 Lunch

14:00 - departure by bus to visit Latvian cider producers.

We will visit Abava Winery and Sabile Cider, the two largest cider producers in Kurzeme region, western part of Latvia. The visit will culminate with a friendly dinner at RestoTerase restaurant in Sabile town. Expect a late return to Riga.

(places for study tour are limited)

Program in printable PDF format here

Working language: English

Registration is closed, places are fully booked. 

The seminar is arranged by project „BASCIL“, which is part-financed by INTERREG Baltic Sea Region programme 2021-2027