ASTURIAN CRAFT CIDER 2024/ Sidra casera asturiana 2024

According to the ethnographer Inaciu Hevia Llavona, there were once more cider presses than houses in some villages. The production of home-made cider in Asturias is a centuries-old tradition which declined as a result of the abandonment of the rural world in the mid-20th century, but which is now flourishing in all its splendour thanks to the competitions held in many of the region’s municipalities.

In 1995 the Cider Friends Association of Sariego was founded, making its competition – which this year celebrated its 27th edition – the oldest in Asturias. This council was followed by others, attracted by the success of the event. To this day, 13 official competitions have been held, the winners of which are brought together in a grand regional final held in Villaviciosa under the name of  Mundo Collada Awards and organised by the  Association for the Promotion of Traditional Asturian Cider.

Although more than 500 cider makers take part in these competitions, the reality is that the number is much larger and of increasingly younger ages.

The 27th edition of the Sariego Natural Homemade Cider Competition ‘Memorial Emilio Blanco’ took place on 19th July with the participation of 30 cidermakers, six of which qualified for the final. The cider presented by Begoña Cifuentes (Canal) was awarded first prize, followed by Ismael Bastian (La Vizcaina) and Nieves Valencia (Lamasanti), in second and third place respectively.

The jury was represented by Maximino Villarrica, Gumersindo Martinez, Guti Rodriguez, Juan Perez and Joaquin Fernandez.

On Saturday 20th July the VIII Gijon Natural Homemade Cider Contest took place in Caldones, organised by Eduardo Alcazar. On this occasion, I had the opportunity to be part of the jury together with Luis Piñera, Andres Canal, Joaquin Fernandez and Edu Coto and enjoy the good cider poured by Victor Garcia, owner of Bodegas Anchon.

After three elimination rounds of 10 bottles each, the final was disputed, with the winner being Santiago Piñera, from Tremañes. Second place went to Rufino Perez, from La Campa (Somio) and third place went to Jorge Ceñal, from Fano. The rest of the classified, from fourth to tenth place, were Raul Menendez (Caldones), Fernando Entrialgo (Cabueñes), Pedro Farias (Quintana), Mercedes (Somio), Sergio (Infanzon), Santi (Infanzon) and Aitor Ferreras (Cabueñes).

On 11th August, the 7th Carreño Homemade Cider Tasting was held in Perlora, which attracts more and more people every year. On this day, cider was poured from 24 producers of the municipality, as well as from the Association of Home-made Cider of Gozón, which attended as a guest council.

In addition, the public could enjoy an exhibition of cider objects from Carreño, from 1880 to the present day, as well as a cider pouring workshop for children. This year’s Manzana de Oro (“Golden Apple”) was awarded to the cider maker La Nozalera, an award that was collected by the heirs of Jose Manuel Garcia Suarez.

On 18th August Villaviciosa held its XVIIth Local Homemade Cider Competition. Organised by the Association for the Promotion of Traditional Asturian Cider, this edition broke the record of participants with 95 registered producers. In total, more than 10,000 culinos were poured for the hundreds of people attending the square.

In the preliminary phase, 12 finalists were selected, of which Simon San Jose Lozano, from Vallinaoscura (Pueyes) was the winner. Second place went to Portali Solares from Llavanderu (Fuentes) and third place went to Moises Alonso from Santa Marina (Oles). The prize for the best cider pourer went to Ivan Prieto, from Ribadesella.

This is not the only competition held in the town of Villaviciosa. On 15th June, coinciding with the San Juan festivities in Castiello La Marina, the VII ‘Manolo Los Piñares Memorial’ homemade cider competition was held.

On the other hand, on Saturday 6th July, a new edition of the Quintes and Quintueles Homemade Cider Festival took place, which is held every year alternately in one of the villages. This year, it was organised by the Quintueles Festivities Committee.

On Sunday 7th July, the 3rd ‘Memorial Tino La Caseria’ Homemade Cider Competition was held in Bedriñana as part of the celebrations of the Virgen de la Velilla. First prize went to Aurelio Alonso, followed by Angela Carneado and Pepe Luis «el de La Ermita» with second and third prizes respectively.

Likewise, the The Poreñu Homemade Cider Championship was held on 13th October, coinciding with the Fiestas de la Pilarica.After the pre-selection with a popular jury of the 19 participants, the first prize went to Jose Cardin. Manolo Cardin and Isidoro Arenas won second and third prize respectively. Fourth place went to Remigio Peon and fifth to Isidoro Cardin.

Bedriñana

Poreñu

The first edition of the Llanes Homemade Cider Competition was held on Sunday 18th August, as part of the Posada Market Garden Competition. After the semifinals that took place the day before, eight ciders were classified from the more than twenty participating producers, which could be tasted by the audience.

The winner of the competition was Jose Luis Sanchez from Ardisana, followed by Hector García Llera and Pedro Cabezon, both from Villahormes, who came second and third respectively.

The final of the 5th edition of the Onis Homemade Cider Contest took place in Benia on Saturday 24th August. Once again, I had the opportunity to participate as a judge with Pepin de Sirviella, organiser of the event, and to taste ciders from ten Asturian and Leonese municipalities.

The winner of this edition was Micaela Diaz, from Sirviella, not only in the general classification, but also in the local cider category, which counted with the participation of ten different cider mills.

Second prize went to Elena Gutierrez from Cantabria and third prize went to Siero Apple Friends Club.

The second and third places in the local classification went to Ruben Rodriguez (Bobia) and Baudilio Perez (Demues), respectively.

On Sunday 8th September, after the pre-selection on the 5th, the final of the VIII Piloña Homemade Cider Contest took place, with a jury formed by Miguel Angel Pontón, Bene Zurro, Nando Alvarez, Juan Luis Garcia and Beni Quidiello.

Jose Llera (La Caneya de Coya) was the winner, followed by Mario Llera and Valentin de la Llana (Ortigosa), in second and third place respectively. The other finalists were Mateo Llasona (Bargaeu), Jesus Fraile (Anayu) and Simon Carus (Cereceda). The popular prize was awarded to Dani Camblor, from Espinareu.

The popular tasting also included ciders from Gozon, as the guest council, as well as from the Aragonese Pyrenees and Escalante (Cantabria). The opening speech was given by the brothers Jose and Carlos Argüelles, master coopers from Breceña (Villaviciosa).

The VII Colunga Homemade Cider Competition took place on 14th September, after the qualifying round the previous day, with 34 cider makers from the council taking part.

Juan Luis Gala (Gobiendes) was the first prize winner, followed by Sandra Pedrayes and Pelayo Garcia, in second and third place respectively.

The VI Caudal Artisan CiderMakers Competition was held in Moreda on 14th September, under the name ‘Restalla la Sidra’ (“Crack the cider”), with 25 ciders from the area taking part.

The winner of the first prize was Adrian Gavela from Argame (Morcin), with second prize going to Vicente Ardura, organiser of the event, from Polio (Mieres) and third prize to Roberto Garcia, from Turon. The fourth to eighth place winners were Jose Maria Fernández, Gema Cordero, Maria Jose Rodriguez, Arsenio Molinero and Placido Minguez.

In the afternoon it was the turn of the commercial cider tasting of Nava and Taramundi, with Roza, Viuda de Angelon, Viuda de Corsino, Orizon and Solleiro as guest cider mills.

On Sunday 22nd September, the final of the II Gozon Homemade Cider Contest took place in Luanco, after the previous day’s classification of twelve finalists from among the thirty participants. The event, organised by Gozon- Cabu Peñes Homemade Cider Association, had the neighbouring council of Carreño as a guest.

Once again this year I had the privilege of participating as a member of the jury both in the pre-selection and in the final, together with Luis Sariego, Joaquin Fernandez, Juan Perez and Ivan Prieto.

The winner of this edition was Jose Maria Rodríguez (Manzaneda), followed by Elena Gonzalez (Manzaneda) and Jaime Rodriguez (Luanco), in second and third place respectively.

From fourth to twelfth place, the following participants were classified: Francisco Gutierrez (Manzaneda), Javier Llamazares (Cardo), Sidra La Sierra del Posadoiru (Cardo), Casa Inclan (Santolaya), Llucia Gutiérrez (Manzaneda), Richo (Antromero), Casa’l Llao (Les Cabañes, Verdicio), Casa Avelino Juana (Ferreru) and Fernando Pinilla (La Ren, Cardo).

This year there was also an emotional tribute to the figure of the great cider lover and participant as a jury member in many competitions, Laudino Riva.

On 22nd September, the Siero Apple Friends Club organised the X Homemade Cider Competition, coinciding with the Agrosiero celebrations. The winner of this edition, for the second consecutive time, was Angel Solares (Celles), with Mundo Menendez (Feleches) and Maria Luisa Hevia (Pola de Siero) in second and third place respectively.

With a large number of people interested in seeing the exhibition of more than 130 varieties of apple – 74 of which belong to the PDO Cider of Asturias – the tasting of the 51 competing cider mills and more than 5,000 glasses of cider took place. The attendees were also able to enjoy vermouth, ice cider and cider brandy made by the members of the association themselves.

On the other hand, on Sunday 26th May, the III Muño Homemade Cider Tasting took place. This is a town with a great fondness for cider where more than 30 varieties of apple are grown. On this occasion, the attendees were able to taste fifty cases of cider made by local cider makers and the Siero Apple Friends Club.

Organised for the first time by the recently created Salas Homemade Cider Association, the IV Salas Homemade Cider Competition was held on 22nd September, with great success among the public, who tasted more than 2,500 cider glasses from the 18 local producers taking part.

The first prize went to Sira Fernandez and David Cano from Ca’l Maña (Otero), followed by Juan Carlos Lopez (Sobrerriba) and Anibal Fernandez ‘El Bravin’ (Santa Eufemia), in second and third place respectively. The public prize went to David Garcia from Ca’l Truebano (Villamar).

Sixty cider producers were present at the VIII Ribadesella Homemade Cider Contest on the 6th of October. After the eliminatory day that took place on the 2nd, in which I had the honour of participating as a judge, 12 ciders of great quality were classified.

After the deliberations of the final jury, made up of Ruben Barredo, Edu Coto, Juan Perez, Fran Gutierrez and Vicente Ardura, the winner was Manolo Granda, from Sebreñu (Ribadesella). Second prize went to Rosalia Estrada (Pola de Siero) and third prize to Angela Fuentes from Coya (Piloña).

The winners in fourth to tenth place were as follows: Daniel Fuentes (Piloña), Luis Fuentes and Lluis Nel Estrada, ‘the cousins’ (La Granda, Ribadesella), Victor Fernandez (Pola de Siero), Diego Pellitero (Onis), Javier Longo (Severas, Piloña), Ignacio Cibrian (Arriondas) and Jaime Cifuentes (San Miguel, Ribadesella).

The Folixa (“Festival”) in Ribadesella also featured a hotly contested Pouring Competition, which counted towards the Asturian championship and whose winner was the master pourer of Tierra Astur, Salvador Ondo. Second place went to Antonio Sorca, from Sidreria El Portal and third place went to Jorge Vargas, from La Montera Picona.

As for the classification of local cider pourers, the best score went to Ivan Prieto, a member of Entaina Ribeseya organisation, followed by Jose Ramon and Pepin el de la Torraya (Onis) in second and third place respectively.

This year, homage was paid to the figure of the great cider lover Laudino Riva, who died the previous year.

There was also a tasting of cider from eleven commercial cider makers: Contrueces, Piñera, Buznego, Frutos, Vallina, Vigon, Cabañon, Muñiz, Quelo, Roza and Viuda de Angelon.

On 20th October, the final of the Selection for the Best Asturian Home-made Cider brought together a thousand people in Villaviciosa to taste around 900 litres of craft cider from the 51 participating cider makers, from around twenty Asturian municipalities.

The Promotion for the Traditional Asturian Cider Association put 800 commemorative glasses on sale, which quickly sold out due to the interest aroused by this traditional autumn event in which the three best cider makers from each council compete.

The winner of the regional competition, among the 12 finalist ciders, was Jose Llera (La Caneya, Piloña), followed by Portali Solares (Fuentes, Villaviciosa) and Jorge Ceñal (Fano, Gijon). The Lozano Rodriguez family (Pueyes, Villaviciosa) and Ismael Bastian (La Vizcaina, Sariego) came fourth and fifth respectively.

The III Parres Homemade Cider Tasting took place on Sunday 3rd November in Arriondas, as part of the XXXIII Chestnut and Market Garden Products Festival. The event was sponsored by the Andecha Sidrera de Parres association, which will organise an official competition next year.

More than 500 litres of cider were poured from the 26 participating cider makers, with the winner being Nino Rodríguez Galan (Güexes). Second and third place went to Nacho Cibrian (Llames) and L’Argumosu (Sinariega), respectively.

During the meeting, there was a special remembrance for what should have been the 27th participating producer, Jose Manuel Vega Mere, Lolo, who recently passed away.

From 30th June 2024, Asturian home-made cider has the support of FASCAS (Asturian Federation of Home-made Cider), of which Pimiango, Ribadedeva, Entaina Ribeseya Association,  Parres Andecha Sidrera (“Cider Gathering”), Piloña Homemade Cider Association, Siero Apple Friends Club, Caudal Artisan Homemakers, Gozon-Cabo Peñas Homemade Cider Association, Onis,  Nava Escancia (“Pouring Nava”) and Asturies XXI Foundation.

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