DISCOVER SOME OF THE HISTORY AND EVOLUTION OF VALLEOSCURU
It all started in 1998, when we decided to delve deeper into rural tourism.
Seeing that our small Casa de Aldea El Rosal was working very well and with the intention of not having simple accommodation, but a place where they could live a different experience, we decided to get into the world of cider, to make our customers part of one of the most typical traditions of our land.
THE CIRCLE WORKS: THE BEGINNINGS SINCE 1998
The first thing we did was go to the Regional Ministry of Agriculture and present our project to build a rural hotel, complementing it with the planting of apple trees, for which we bought two apple orchards.
In 1998 we already had the first hectare of apple trees and a year later, at the end of 1999, we opened the Valleoscuru Rural Hotel. Little by little the apple trees grew, with quite a few problems, because due to the entry of roe deer, sheep, and other animals that entered the farms and ate the shoots, the trees did not thrive. So the little that we had left, we transformed into cider in the basement of the Hotel.
This was the old cider mill and the activities we carried out in it
THE NEW CIDER PRESS PROJECT: IT WAS TIME TO GROW AND MODERNIZE
We expanded our apple orchard and seeing that production was growing and that our cider making method was very rudimentary, we thought it would be good to have a place with the appropriate machinery and space to make cider. And so the idea of the Cider Press was born. We went to LEADER and presented the Cider Press project to them (there weren’t any legally registered ones in our area) and they approved it.
This is how the construction work on the new cider press went (you can use the arrows to see more photos)
THE NEW CIDER MILL: MODERN FACILITIES THAT VISITORS COULD ENJOY
We built it in 2005. The new cider mill was equipped with an automatic bottling and corking machine and an automatic press, a dream for us, since until now everything had been manual and much slower. We installed fiberglass and stainless steel tanks.
This is what the new cider mill’s facilities look like (you can use the arrows to see more photos)
THE NEW CIDER WORKS AND ORGANIC CIDER: ASTURIAN TRADITION AND QUALITY
After this great advance, we managed to produce 26,000 liters. This led us to have marketing problems, since we were a small cider mill with very high production costs, making it impossible to compete with the large Asturian cider companies. So we decided to differentiate ourselves. First by converting the orchards to organic farming and then certifying the premises as organic.
Thus, in 2010, we managed to obtain the first organic cider in eastern Asturias and one of the four organic cider mills in all of Asturias. We have diversified by also making organic cider vinegar. Production is much lower. Now, depending a bit on the year, we usually make around 5,000 liters of our own cider annually. And, if one year we harvest a lot of kilos and have some left over, we sell the apples directly to other larger producers.
We have focused on making a limited, organic production of the maximum quality, to enjoy it and sell it directly, especially to customers who come to Valleoscuru, thus complementing the rural experience.
THE CIDER PRESS AND THE EXPERIENCES: EVERYTHING ABOUT ORGANIC CIDER PRODUCTION
Our cider press is very close to the hotel and can be visited by all our guests. Here you will see and we will explain all the cider production processes, and you can ask us any questions you may have about this beverage so representative of our land. We can also show you our apple orchards. In addition, we always serve our organic cider at our dinners, and in our special packages, we include a bottle of our organic apple cider vinegar as a farewell gift.
During the months of October and November (apple picking season), we organize an activity in which you can come and participate in the apple picking and then crush and press the apples to produce the first sweet cider that we can taste right there.
Both cider and organic vinegar can be purchased directly at the hotel or also through our online store. In fact, as we have mentioned, almost all of our production is consumed at the hotel and we sell it directly to our own guests.
THE CEREMONY, THE ACTIVITIES, THE OLD LABELS AND CERTIFICATES… IN IMAGES
Below the last row you can see more images by clicking “next”
