Twin Pines Orchards

Last Saturday night Calvin, Oliver and I were invited by friends to attend Twin Pines Orchards' "Christmas Open House". Twin Pines is an apple orchard, cider house and estate winery (hard cider) in Thedford, Ontario. It is a 50 acre property full of incredible plant and animal life, that houses a flourishing business that now supports 3 generations.

As we pulled up to the gorgeous property we could already smell fresh apple doughnuts being fried for guests. We parked amid rows of apple trees and stepped into their market building. Warm cheese dips and homemade fruit preserves were out for sampling, and a jazz band was planted at one end of the building, making the whole event feel like a bit of a wonderland. Friendly faces maneuvered through the crowd, offering samples of hot apple cider - which truly tasted like biting into a fresh apple.

We got word that one of the family's grandsons was sampling ice apple-wines upstairs so we quickly found our way and were charmed by his incredible palate and knowledge of their operations. We tried 5 wines and were enchanted by their incredible flavour. We especially loved the Hammer Bent Red, a 6.8% alcohol apple wine that was very fruity and bright. They were reasonably priced at $10 for a 1 L glass bottle, or $20 for a liter of ice wine. You typically see ice wines sell at $50 for less than 500ml, so we vowed that this would be our new source.

We finished the night with a moonlit hayride that Oliver slept through, but what can you expect from a 3 month old baby?


After visiting I was excited to look further into Twin Pines' philosophies and was happy to discover that they have reserved a portion of the farm that is completely grown without pesticides. This area includes pumpkins, squash, tomatoes, strawberries, nectarines, peaches and assorted varieties of apples. The remainder of the farm is considered IPM (Integrated Pest Management). Through this commitment they are able to determine when spraying is not necessary.

I invite everyone in the area to take a trip to this inspiring orchard!