After a three years break due to Corona, CiderWorld Expo is back in Frankfurt. What is CiderWorld? You must be living under a rock if you’re a cider maker or a cider enthusiast and you’ve never heard of CiderWorld before. But if you still don’t know what CiderWorld is, let me briefly explain this to you. CiderWorld is an international cider fair based in Frankfurt, Germany launched in 2008 as Apfelwein International. And, the most important cider trade fair in this part of Europe. You may also read my recaps from previous visits to CiderWorld’18 and CiderWorld’19. And, of CiderWorld’21 Award.
CiderWeek
As usually, during CiderWorld there are many cider events in Frankfurt giving one the opportunity to discover the fascinating world of cider that is more complex than just the Frankfurter Apfelwein. This time, one could explore Norwegian Cider during a tasting and evaluate, which German Apfelwein pairs well with which kind of cheese. Since I don’t live in Frankfurt, I couldn’t participate in any of these events but from what I’ve heard they were supposed to be an interesting experience.
CiderWorld’22 Award
CiderWorld is not only a cider trade fair but it is also about giving CiderWorld’22 Award to best ciders in 7 categories, Cider still, Cider sparkling, Perry & Cider Flavoured – still and sparkling, ice cider/dessert wine, non-alcoholic cider and apple brandy. Just like last year, the judging panel gathered at Zum Lahmen Esel, a typical Apfelwein restaurant in Frankfurt to assess entered ciders and select the best ones. Each cider can get up to max. 120 points. Depending on the number of received points, cider gets either Gold, Silver or Honor just like in the picture below.
CiderWorld’22 Award went fully digital this year. All points along with comments were entered into a specially designed website that was also able to automatically calculate all points (such a relief!). Last year, I tested the tool as the first group and I was pretty happy with the result. This year all judging panels had to use the new tool. However, quite useful features of the new tool such as asking for help or requesting next sample didn’t really work. You had to raise your hand in an old-fashioned way. Anyway, in the judging panel, there were four of us this year with me being the chair. My judging panel reviewed in total 18 ciders from various different countries. In total, 185 ciders from 15 countries were entered. All winners of CiderWorld’22 Award are available here.
Similarly to last year, there was an incident on my judging panel. It concerned a product from a German producer, who entered a blend of 80% Dabinett and 20% Boskoop in the category Cider-Sparkling. For those of you who are not familiar with the world of cider, Dabinett is an English bitter-sweet apple variety that is high in bitter tannins and is traditionally used by English cider makers. Logically, a cider made with predominantly Dabinett should be evaluated like an English-style cider, not like German Apfelwein. As chair of the judging panel, I highlighted this to the jury panel before we started the evaluation. The said cider had a farmyard note, which in winemaking would be obviously considered a fault. However, such a farmyard note in English-style cider is actually common, sometimes even desired and definitely not a fault. It is also important to mention that the farmyard note was not dominating but co-existed with lovely notes of caramel and oxidized apple. Anyhow, unfortunately the mentioned cider was not to my co-judges’ taste and received only little points, not enough to get Honor. I’m not going to mention the name of the cider maker but in a different cider competition, this cider was properly recognized and was recently awarded Silver. Hence, something is not right here if in a contest called CiderWorld the world is limited only to German apple wine as benchmark.
Clearly, there is a need for change. I have already raised this topic with the organisers so they are aware of the issue. Let’s see if something will change next year. For this reason, at least for now, you should be aware that if you make natural cider, pet-nat style cider or working with wild yeast, and consider entering your cider to CiderWorld’23 Award you should provide as many details about your product as possible and highlight the nature of your cider to the organisers as there is a risk that your cider may not be properly assessed. Hopefully, this will improve in CiderWorld’23 Award.
There is also one category that raised a lot of discussion not only among jury members but also among cider makers who I spoke with. Something admiteddly I didn’t pay attention in previous years. There is a category called “Perry & flavoured cider” that tremendously expanded in the recent years. In the same category, a fermented beverage made from pears and e.g. a hopped cider or aronia-flavoured cider are assessed. I find it really hard to compare these products in one category. This is something that in my opinion should be addressed in the future especially that only this year I tried a cider with caraway, a cider with flowers and meadow herbs or a cider with grapefruit and passion fruit. I wonder how this will be solved in CiderWorld’23 Award. Let’s wait and see.
CiderWorld’22 Expo. Saturday.
Just as in previous years, the fair took place in a delightful location in Frankfurt, Gesellschaftshaus Palmengarten and cider stands were located on two floors, ground floor and gallery. In total, one had 6 hours to take a deep dive into the world of cider. In 2019, CiderWorld was split into two days: one for professionals, the other one for all visitors so there was twice as much time to sample cider. In a nut shell, this year two days were squeezed into one that lasted only 6 hours!
Although I have thouroughly (so I thought at least) planned my visit, the limited time made it just impossible to visit all stands and sample all available ciders. I failed completely as I didn’t manage to visit many Norwegian, Italian, German, several Spanish and many other stands on the ground floor. Just to give you an example, I spent nearly 50 minutes sampling only ciders from three Latvian booths. Not to mention that I didn’t even find a minute to grab anything to eat. There was simply not enough time.
Best Cider Discoveries of CiderWorld’22
As already mentioned above, I missed sampling products of many cider producers. Therefore, the section about the highlights of CiderWorld’22 is surely incomplete. Please bear with me.
Cider makers and ciders are mentioned in random order.
Abavas – a Latvian cider maker, whose ciders are always high-end products not only because of great taste but also great looks. Abavas Forests (stay tuned for a review!), Cloudy Caraway, Abavas Meadows, Abavas Nordic Apple & Grapefruit (stay tuned for a review!), Hopped Apple were only several offerings I got to try. All of them super tasty and remarkable. Even the Cloudy Caraway, which was super interesting and didn’t taste like Caraway at all. But if I had to choose only one, it would be the Abavas Meadows, a botanical cider with meadow herbs and flowers due to interesting floral notes. Trust me, you want to try it!
Mr. Plume – another Latvian cider maker made up by Maris and Dace, a lovely cider couple. I sampled their ciders for the first time in 2018 – for my past reviews of their ciders click the Pussausais 2016, Saldais 2016, Dzirkstosais 2016, Sausais 2016, and Karstsidrs 2016. Ciders made by Mr. Plume were already good back then but now they are mind-blowing! My personal favourites were Vintage Cider 2020 and Sausais (Dry) 2020. Dry, fruity with a lovely balanced tannin.
Talavas – another cider maker from Latvia (sic!). They have a cider and cider-flavoured offerings with hops. All interesting but the regular cider was my favourite as they were all delightful. .
Cidrerie du Pays d’ Auray – Yves Maho from Brittany makes fantastic cidre Brut, Fermiere and Guillevic and even mead. I thought they were all spectacular with gentle acidity, lightness and balanced tannin. Couldn’t pick my personal favorite.
Veitlbauer Genussmosthof – a producer from Steiermark, Austria. I tried several apple wines made by them such as Secco Rose, Boskoop, Jonagold, Schafsnase or Bohnapfel. They were all really lovely, including the Jonagold. It shows that you can actually make a decent cider with dessert apples! Personally, Bohnapfel and Boskoop stole my heart.
Kühbrein Most – another producer from Steiermark, Austria. I tried several their tasty ciders but their Red Love Secco, a cider made with a red flesh apple variety Red Love is a masterpiece in my opinion. Pleasant acidity, notes of red berries and good length. This can be a blockbuster for the summer time.
Kupela -another French producer but from the French Basque Country. I have reviewed several ciders back in 2018- see the reviews of Bizia Petillant Semi Dry, Petillant Dry and Sagardoa. Back then their ciders were overly sweet and thus unbalanced. I had a chance to try the new releases and I can see the improvement. Their Aingura and Sagardoa in a can were really pleasant.
Sidra Somarroza from the Spanish Cantabria is a family business that stood out with their Bitter Somarroza – another botanical cider. A very interesting one, slightly resembling Campari. A lovely offering.
Apfelweinhandlung Jens Becker – ever since I met Jens Becker, a Frankfurt based producer and tried his Apfelwein, I drink his products very often. His German Cider 2021 was nicely fruity, light, yet with a good length and structure. I could drink this all the time.
Floribunda – a South Tyrolean cider maker who makes cider with various ingredients. This year Franz released a cider with pepperoncino that everyone was willing to try. There were actually people queuing to sample this interesting combination. I liked it. Stay tuned for a review!
If you belong to the cider makers who I, unfortunately, didn’t visit at CiderWorld’22 and feel neglected, feel free to reach out to me. I’m happy to review your cider.
Lastly, I would like to give a big shout out to Abavas, Talavas, and Kühbrein for their beautiful design. In a world full of boring packaging, grey labels and leaflets these three producers really stand out not only with the just mentioned taste but also with a catchy and powerful design. If I had seen your products on the shelves, I would be definitely going for them. And, I’m sure others will to. I’m glad to see that some cider makers pay attention also to the visual aspects as well. Bravo!
Closing remarks
There were noticeably less exhibitors this year than in 2019 but also less guests than in previous editions of CiderWorld. I guess the fact that I couldn’t identify any posters or commercials advertising the event while wandering the streets of Frankfurt might has also taken it’s toll. Online marketing may draw visitors but good old posters or commercials on public transportation would draw many potential spontaneous visitors. Especially that just like in previous years, the weather during CiderWorld’22 Expo was sunny and very warm – perfect for sipping cider.
Due to the fact that the event was shortened to one day, I have a feeling that I didn’t have a chance to to learn anything about Norwegian cider, which was the Guest of Honor at this years CiderWorld.
Also, a big shout out goes to three Latvian cider makers that were at the fair, Abavas, Mr. Plume and Talavas. Along with other Latvian cider producers not present at the fair, they even prepared a map of cider makers to visit and pointers on how to plan your visit to Latvia. This could be very helpful when planning my next cider trip!
Overall, I will always recommend to anyone to come to Frankfurt to CiderWorld and experience this event and passion for cider on their own skin (or taste buds). It is a great opportunity to explore cider makers from non-classical cider countries such as Norway or Latvia, see how cider makers and their ciders evolve and how new vintages differ compared to previous years. Last but not least, it feels fantastic to catch up with old cider friends, make new cider friends and finally meet in person people you only exchanged messages on Instagram or Twitter.
So how is it going to be? Will I see you next year at CiderWorld’23 in Frankfurt?
Cider Explorer 
You must be logged in to post a comment.