Blackledge Winery

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Center Valley, PA
Blackledge Winery

We're a privately funded research winery specializing in traditional early American ciders. Welcome to Blackledge. Cheers! ~ Damian & Amy Siekonic

We're a privately funded research winery that produces historical wines, ciders and meads that can't be found anywhere else in the world. We aim to produce around 500 gallons a year in our early 18th century stone farmhouse. While we're not open to the public, our early American heirloom ciders are currently available at a handful of local restaurants. Check out our website at www.blackledgewinery.com and follow us on Facebook for our current releases.

04/02/2026

An annual pilgrimage of sorts - driving to the Amish farm southeast of Lancaster, PA where we have our heirloom cider apple trees custom grafted for us. Today we picked up more Golden Russets and McIntosh. The orchard has room for 462 trees, and we're nearly filled up!!

02/22/2026

Winter pruning our espalier cider apple trees. These are some of our oldest, the Golden Russet. The branches are trained along wires similar to how grapes are grown in vineyards, allowing for maximized fruit production with minimal tree growth. Plus it let's anyone access the trees without a ladder, making pruning & spraying easier and much more efficient. But don't try this with just any apple tree. They need to be grafted onto dwarf rootstocks!

01/16/2026

It's January, which means working at the orchard pruning 462 dwarf apple trees. With all the leaves gone it almost looks like there's nothing growing at all! This is the dormant cycle for the trees, making it the perfect time to cut off dead/damaged branches, train growth, and trouble shoot things for the spring. Next month we'll be applying the dormant spray along with a good helping of copper fungicide which will help give the trees a clean start for the season. Craving some cider? While we're not open to the public, you can enjoy our traditional early American ciders at Braveheart Highland Pub in Hellertown, McCoole's Red Lion Inn in Quakertown, and the Tavern at the Sun Inn in Bethlehem. Cheers!

12/02/2025

Greetings cider peeps! This week we celebrate ten years working with Laird's Distillery for the apple brandy barrels we use in our cider projects. Ten years!!! It's been our steadfast position that barrel-aging traditional American cider is the only way to truthfully represent what was once cider's "golden age" here in the United States. The heirloom blend that makes up our cider deserves nothing less. Cheers!

10/20/2025

Greetings fellow cider drinkers! Fall is upon us, and we're just now beginning to release our 2024 vintage. Over the last few days we pressed this year's apples - marking our 10th cider season here at Blackledge!!!

2025 has been one wild trip! From travelling abroad to the Baltics and north to the Arctic Circle where we researched some of Europe's best ciders, to managing our heirloom apple orchard of 450+ trees, to media projects where signed NDA's don't allow us to post about the crazy fun things we got to do...... And our "new" orchard vehicle, one that folks have told us needs its own page (we'll have to see about that! LOL)

Our cider is project-driven by the research projects we undertake here at Blackledge, and everything we've made is pre-sold through next year. If you're looking to sample some of our work, our "1811" cider is at Braveheart Highland Pub in Hellertown, and we produce the house ciders for the historic Tavern at the Sun Inn in Bethlehem and McCoole's at the Historic Red Lion Inn in Quakertown.

While we're not open to the public, in past years each fall we've offered up a small quantity for sale to our local cider-loving friends. We're hoping to do that again next month during the two weeks leading up to Thanksgiving. These will be full case purchases of twelve 500ml bottles, pickup here in Center Valley. Early American heirloom cider apples, naturally fermented, finished bone-dry, aged in fresh Laird's apple brandy barrels, bottled lightly carbonated and sugar-free, sulfite-free and gluten free! If you think you may want some, send us a message through FB messenger and we'll do our best to accommodate. Quantities will be extremely limited and it's first come first serve. Have a great week!!!

11/20/2024

Today was the annual trip to get our cider barrels from Lairds Distillery. Their fresh apple brandy barrels lend so much to the build and character of our heirloom ciders, taking already amazing apples to another level altogether. Can't believe this is our 10th year barrel-aging with them. Time flying never tasted so good.....

11/16/2024

Greetings cider peeps! Just in time for Thanksgiving, the super secret cider sale is now ON. We're going to release a very small amount of our bone-dry, barrel aged heirloom cider (ABV 8.4%) for public sale, which we're going to freshly bottle on Monday, November 25th for those who pre-order it. We're only taking requests via Messenger through the 22nd (next Friday). Price is $10 cash per 500ml bottle with pickup here at Blackledge in Center Valley, PA and with flexible pickup times leading up to the 28th. Cheers!

11/10/2024

Bone-dry cider just three and a half weeks old, courtesy of our region's amazing natural yeast! The foam from the CO2 still in suspension made for a cool photo. 😎

10/16/2024

It's cider time! Our custom heirloom blend, freshly pressed yesterday afternoon and heading to the fermenters today.

10/15/2024

Our 2024 fresh cider pressing is this afternoon! Prepping tanks and consolidating the little we have left from the previous vintage. Clear, clean cider that mother nature makes perfect with quality heirloom cider apples, natural yeast, and what's likely the most important ingredient of all - time. 🙂

10/08/2024

Happy cider season! A big thank you to Braveheart in Hellertown for once again including us in their fall lineup!! Our 1811 cider is on their menu - 8.4% ABV, naturally fermented, bone dry & barrel-aged. All the apples in this blend date back to 1811 America if not earlier. Pair it with Braveheart's amazing fare and you'll not be disappointed!!! Braveheart Highland Pub

Address

Center Valley, PA

Telephone

+14842268263

Website

http://www.blackledgewinery.com/

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