Savories: Oils and Cider Vinegar
Tom
Rodriguez was convinced that Virginia apples could produce sparkling
apple ciders as fruity and complex as the ones he had enjoyed in
Normandy and Brittany. After retirement from an international champagne,
wine and spirits house, he designed a business to market the
effervescent apple cider he remembered.
During twenty years of corporate division management and marketing, he traveled regularly throughout the middle Atlantic region tracing many miles through the apple orchards of northwestern Virginia. His background expertise in champagne and sparkling wine led him to consider the high acid level of eastern apple production - that same level of acidity being one of the factors that make good sparkling wines. His proprietary cuvee of several orchard varietals was infused with bubbles to create
Le Mousseux, a gourmet sparkling apple cider - a non-alcoholic festive favorite.
Apple
butters and spreads, based on memories of his grandmother’s
cooking, were a natural extension of the product line. His West Virginia
grandmother’s handwritten recipes and notes in the margin of her
cookbook were the source of this and other fruit combinations. The six
that are now offered have been updated to modern cooking techniques. The
huge cook pots over an outside fire are gone, but the home-cooked flavors
are wonderful on toast, bagels, muffins, angel cake, pound cake, ice
cream and a myriad of other combinations.
As
his business grew, Tom added several personal favorite items to his
product line. An accomplished cook, he frequently shares his own spicy cider
vinegar, extra virgin olive oil and herb blend with friends. He included those along with
some of his favorite recipes and herb blends to the company offerings.
La Provençale Cellars is a gourmet apple products firm that brings several selections to the specialty foods market.
| Return to top of page |   |