SABILE CIDER

General information

Package type: half day
Season: January–December
For whom: groups

Duration of the programme: ~1–3 h

Type of transport:
individual transport, tourist buses

Services included:
tours of the factory and tasting of products with snacks

INTRODUCTION

The “Sabile Cider” company’s factory is located near the heart of Sabile, where each autumn the region’s farmers deliver apples from their orchards for processing and fermentation to make the cider. The factory also provides a public meeting place where, during the summer, the company and Sabile local government organise concerts and cultural events.

Baiba and Aldis Circenis from Rīga began their story in Sabile more than 20 years ago, when they purchased a nearby “oasis of calm” between linden and oak trees.  They celebrate Latvian holidays, offer lessons about farm work, and after thinking about what to do with their enormous harvest of apples and much experimentation, created the first Sabile cider.  Their cider concept involves a neat garden with tall old apple trees.  The couple also studied the enjoyment and manufacturing traditions of cider in the ancient superpowers of cider, England and France.

Visitors can take a tour of the factory and learn about how cider is produced. The lady of the house will talk about how she changed her career and became a cider master. At the Sabile Cider House adjacent to the factory, visitors can taste the cider and purchase some to take with them.

Programme itinerary

  • Programme

    Programme

    • Arrival at the “Sabile Cider” company and a meeting with one of its representatives.
    • Information about the history of the world of cider, facts, stories and the history of the plant, also focusing on cider production technologies in Latvia and elsewhere in the world.
    • A tour of the factory to see the equipment and learn about the production of cider from the apple to the cork of a cider bottle.
    • A visit to the “Sabile Cider House,” which is approximately 300 metres from the factory, to learn about the output of the plant and to enjoy tastings in a cosy and liberated atmosphere. There will be conversations about cider and its diversity, Sabile, the culture of drinking cider, and foods which go well with it.
    • Opportunity to purchase Sabile cider.