This morning, we and other members and guests of the Slow Food Piedmont Triad convivium wound our way up the mountain roads of southern Virginia to attend the grand opening day of Foggy Ridge Cider. The owners and hosts, Diane and Chuck Flynt of Greensboro, spend their time divided between family and work here in North Carolina, and developing their orchard and cider business in Virginia. Diane has over a thousand apple trees of many heritage varieties in her orchard. They are pollinated with bees that live in two hives at the top of the winding road under the oak.

Diane Flynt, cidermaker of Foggy Ridge Cider, presides over a tasting of their three kinds of hard apple cider: Serious Cider, First Fruit, and Sweet Stayman. We bought one bottle of each!

I know that this photo is awful, but I love the impish look on my friend Gratia’s face as she looks at the camera from behind me on the right. I have on my “Slow Food” hat, one of the ones I made at John C. Campbell Folk School. Obviously, we were having a good time!

After the cider tasting, four of us split a bottle and nine of us spread blankets for a picnic lunch. It was a lovely day with a threatening thunderstorm never drenching us but providing a cool breeze from time to time. Two musicians played jazz on a roofed area where tables were provided. I didn’t get photos of the picnic because I was too busy enjoying the food!

We went back up to the cider house where we found three more travelers from NC, and we tasted award-winning cheeses from our own local favorite Goat Lady Dairy and Galax, Va’s Meadowcreek Dairy. Both dairies practice sustainable agriculture.

Down the road a ways Blacksnake Meadery had a tasting on their front porch. It was THE perfect front porch to relax with a crisp, light glass of mead (honey wine). They used honey from their hives (no collapse disorder in theirs) and crabapples from their trees and Foggy Ridge Orchard. We left with a bottle of each of their offerings as well: Bee Brew with Lime, Bee Brew with Hops, and Tupelo Honey Wine.

Tomorrow they’re doing it again with music if you care to go. Check their web site for details. It is way way way back twisty mountain roads, but what a beautiful drive! (Take the usual precautions if you are prone to motion sickness! You’ll want to feel good when you get there.) And on June 16-17, you could follow the Blue Ridge Wine Trail and visit these and three nearby wineries.

Man, I love this area. If I ever get a chance to buy a little land, this is where I’m looking.