Salt Spring Wild Cider House

Salt Spring Wild Cider House

Owned and operated by a philosopher and a stone sculptor, Salt Spring Wild developed out of a passion to create quality cider from the wild apples that grow on Salt Spring Island. Some of the apples in their blends are from 100-year-old heritage trees, some are from organic orchards, and some are from wild apple trees that live in farmer’s fields and along gentle roadsides, and that once fell with the breeze.

The hard cider (almost no sugar) with its taste born of Salt Spring “terroir” and organic heritage apples became an immediate hit after Gerda Lattey and Mike Lachelt launched their business in July. A busy summer has led to not much downtime during the fall, as the couple works to press, ferment and bottle enough cider to meet the needs of next year’s market.

Learning how to create an alcoholic beverage that’s not just drinkable but enjoyable was a difficult learning process, but one that Lattey and Lachelt used their own tastes to help guide. They are doing much more than just cider on Salt Spring Island, make sure to make you way up there to drink some cider and have a visit.