I visited a few Virginia orchards last week with the hope of learning more about apple production and marketing. Unfortunately, it rained hard just about every day which limited by my travels. Most orchards were at the north end of the Shenandoah Valley off Interstate 81, but two orchards were on the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge Mountains off Route 29, outside Charlottesville, Va. Both of these are well known apple growing regions since the colonial period.
Showalters Orchard - Timberville, VA. - 40 acre family run orchard/cider mill with nice timber frame cider tasting room. Combination of older trees and newer dwarf trees intercropped with pumpkins. Too wet for PYO, but I bought ½ bushel of apples and gallon of cider for $20! Best prices of any place I visited. RD, GD, Winesap, York, Johnagold, Lowery and a few others. Hard cider was good, but contained a lot of carbonation. Lady running the register was one of the owners and was very knowledgeable and helpful. Adjacent to Showalters Orchard was a large commercial orchard owned by Turkey Knob.
Turkey Knob is one of the largest apple growers in the US with over 3000 acres in production and a lot of new high density plantings. Orchard next to Showalters estimated to be 200-300 acres â Lots of new trees on a single wire trellis with unknown rootstocks. Many NO TRESSPASSING signs so I could not explore the orchard. The Turkey Knob grading and packing facility is just around the corner but their retail stand was closed. Orchard is now owned by Andros NA , with a huge processing/storage plant just off of I-81 in Mount Jackson, VA. Also drove by the largest orchard I have even seen a few miles down the road in Quicksburg also owned by Turkey Knob. This orchard had apple trees on both sides of the road as far as you could see. Probably 500 acres or more. Mostly new dwarf trees on close spacing with identification signs. Orchard was well kept and absolutely beautiful. Gala were about 3X14 on 4 wire trellis with no conduit and no drip. Adjacent to the road was large pole barn with what looked like several thousand new plastic bulk bins. Big money and very experienced growers at work here!
Paughs Orchard - Quicksburg, VA â small family owned orchard about 15-20 acres, but they were closed on Saturday when I arrived.
Marker- Miller Orchard - Winchester, VA - Large family owned orchard of about 350 acres. Very nice PYO set up which I could not check out because of the rain. Huge, well organized farm market, included a bakery. No cider mill, but they resold cider from another local orchard. About a dozen varieties of very nice apples. Similar variety to what I had seen earlier plus Mitsu, Nittany and a few others. Apples were $1.69/pound or $25 for ½ bushel as I recall
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Carter Mountain Orchard â Charlottesville, VA. Huge, mountain top apple and grape orchard. Dramatic view in all directions. Lots of older trees spaced 6 feet apart and tied to individual posts which were 12-15 feet tall. Also lots of trees about 15 feet apart and 15 feet tall. One large block of newly planted dwarf trees on 4 wire trellis. Orchard was VERY steep. I was amazed they managed to get a sprayer on the steep hillside to spray the trees. Soil was red clay which is common in the Piedmont area of Virginia. Very many varieties of apples available PYO or pre-picked, including September Wonder (early Fuji) and Candy Crisp. I ate several Candy Crisp and was not impressed. Newer variety for sale at $1.79/pound or $30 or ½ bushel. Also had a wine and cider tasting rooms but time was short and I did not have a chance to check them out. Parking for about 500 cars. This is a big tourist destination close to T. Jeffersonâs plantation at Monticello.
Vintage Virginia Apples/Albemarle Cider - North Garden, Va â About 15 minutes from Carter Mountain off route 29. Nice Cider tasting room. Cider was highly carbonated and reminded me of Champaign. Ciders made from Albemarle Pippin, Hewes Crab, Winesap, Goldrush and more. Orchard also sells many variety of heritage apple tree and conducts seminars on apple orchard production, grafting and cider production. People are very helpful and knowledgeable.