Cider production at Albemarle CiderWorks begins with the harvest of a variety of heritage apples -- many that were grown in Colonial times -- to produce distinctive cider blends. The apples are washed and then move to a grinder (which Bill and Rob Shelton are setting up, below). The crushed apples enter a pommace pump (at the bottom of the hopper, below) and pumped to the cider press.

The various blends are pumped to fermentation tanks (Chuck Shelton is checking the tanks, seen below at left). When the fermentation process is complete, the cider is bottled and capped (Bill and Rob Shelton are bottling one variety at right).

Appropriate labels are applied to each cider variety and the bottles are boxed for storage and delivery (shown below).