The sun cuts through the clouds. A breeze carries the lush smell of many fruits ripening at a maddening pace under the Catalan sun.

We are wading through Joanetes in La Vall d’en Bas, an orchard now under the care of Marc Fuyà and home to Serps, a trove of Catalan ciders as charismatic as their maker.

“Apples are much more clever than humans,” Marc jokes as we pass by a tree which won’t bear fruit this harvest. “If you work a lot one year, the next year you go on holidays.”

Marc is on his third vintage of Serps, and he is certainly working very hard; this one-man show is churning out some of the only natural ciders in all of Catalunya. For him, Serps is a homecoming. After stints cooking food in London and Barcelona and playing music throughout the continent, Marc could no longer resist the gravitational pull of Girona. The biodiversity of its environs was enough to convince him that, slowly but surely, Serps would become his retirement plan. After all, who else was going to rescue all these apples on the verge of extinction?

In Catalunya, grapes have always been the favored ferment. As the traditional thinking goes, why make cider when you could make wine? But traipsing through Joanetes you feel the biodiversity of a forest, an entire ecosystem that overwhelms your senses, and you find yourself asking the same question Marc asked himself — why let the romance of all this fruit go to waste?

Our ankles are spicy from nettles and our lips sticky from figs growing wild. Artemisia, clover, walnuts, hazelnuts, plums caress our legs and arms as we continue to navigate, catching glimpses of the Puigsacalm peak rising in the distance. The only signs of civilization visible are the metal CDs Marc has hung to deter birds from the trees (Incubus, Slipknot, and his childhood favorite, Korn). Our mouths tingle from apple after apple and pear after pear : Reineta Terrera, Winter banana, Pell de Galapet, Gravenstein, Cardinale, Sant Jaume, Cor Glaçat, Eugènia, Verda Donsella, Camosa. You can only eat so many grapes but there are enough different kinds of fruit here to pack a couple lunchboxes. On the way back to the car, we grab some heirloom tomatoes off the vine.

It is a race against time.

We speed toward Santa Pau, a natural park cut out of volcanoes in La Garrotxa, a protected area which nurses the precious indigenous varieties Marc has committed to saving. It looks like Jurassic Park and feels just as wild. This past spring, he took 200 scions from here and planted them in Joanetes.

Thunder starts to roll in like an airplane traveling through the future. We are transfixed. The rain on the apples is unlike anything we have ever heard or seen, and we can only imagine what the coming years may bring.

SERPS SIDRA

Country: Catalunya

Sub-region or Appellation: Girona

Winemaker: Marc Fuyà

Sourcing of apples: Several orchards around Girona and the Pyrenees, including some located in a national park and sourced in collaboration with a conservation project. Other fruits and herbs are sourced either from the property or are wild-foraged.

Size: 1.5 hectares

Instagram: @serps.sidra

SERPS SIDRA :: Lord

A seductive introduction to Marc’s ciders, sourced from a variety of orchards in and around the Pyrenees, Vall de Lord, and Cerdanya. A large diurnal shift coupled with a short maceration lend a delicate freshness, tartness and jovial bubbles sure to satisfy any gourmand. Decadent decadence.

Vintage: 2020
Varieties: Story Inored, Mandy, Crimson Crisp, Opal, Fengapi, Golden, Manzana Silvestre
Style: Dry cider
Alcohol Content: 7.2% ABV
Country: Spain
Sub-region or Appellation: Vall de Lord
Yeasts: Indigenous
Vinification: Short maceration and press, all varieties fermented together with their own indigenous yeasts. Bottled before first fermentation finishes t0 capture the bubbles in the bottle
Fining or Filtration: None
Sulfur added: None

SERPS SIDRA :: Six Pilgrims

A sultry expression featuring all British varieties. Musty and savory, but creamy and luxurious. The illusion of residual sugar is coupled with racy acidity, an epitome of balance. An homage to Marc’s time spent in London, where his love affair with cider began.

Vintage: 2022
Varieties: Dabinett, Ellis Bitter, Kermerrien, Opal
Style: Dry cider
Alcohol Content: 7% ABV
Country: Spain
Sub-region or Appellation: Alpicat
Yeasts: Indigenous
Vinification: Bottled before first fermentation finishes t0 capture the bubbles in the bottle
Fining or Filtration: None
Sulfur added: None

SERPS SIDRA :: Lava

An especially gourmand blend of Eugènia, Camosa, Cor Glaçat, Verda donsella, Ull de nespre, del ciri, aiguardent, marge + wild crab apples. Weighty and enticing, with acid that rolls along your palate like lava down a volcano.

Vintage: 2022
Varieties: Eugènia, Camosa, Cor Glaçat, Verda Donsella, Ull de nespre, Del Ciri, Aiguardent, Marge, Wild Crab Apples
Style: Dry cider
Alcohol Content: 7% ABV
Country: Spain
Sub-region or Appellation: Garrotxa
Yeasts: Indigenous
Vinification: Bottled before first fermentation finishes t0 capture the bubbles in the bottle
Fining or Filtration: None
Sulfur added: None

SERPS SIDRA :: Gos Com Fux

Sourced wholly from coastal orchards in Empordà, this cider’s fresh fruited-ness is matched with subtle earthiness and gentle bubbles. Like the fleeting image of a dog running, this cider defies categorization, but we can all agree it is an ephemeral beauty.

Vintage: 2022
Varieties: Clon Pink x Gala, Reineta Gris, Golden Russeting, Pink Lady, Judor, Granny Smith
Style: Dry cider
Alcohol Content: 6.4% ABV
Country: Spain
Sub-region or Appellation: Empordà, Girona
Yeasts: Indigenous
Vinification: 12 hour maceration before pressing, varieties are co-fermented and undergo a second fermentation in bottle; bottled by hand
Fining or Filtration: None
Sulfur added: None

SERPS SIDRA :: Zipristin

A Basque-inspired cider featuring Basque apple varieties, fresh and lifted, with Marc’s trademark brightness at the forefront.

Vintage: 2022
Varieties: Urtebi Haundi, Urtebi Txiki, Moko, Goikoetxe,Jezamina, Txalaka, Reineta Blanca, Crimson, Opal
Style: Dry cider
Alcohol Content: 7% ABV
Country: Spain
Sub-region or Appellation: Alpicat
Yeasts: Indigenous
Vinification: Bottled before first fermentation finishes t0 capture the bubbles in the bottle
Fining or Filtration: None
Sulfur added: None

SERPS SIDRA :: Liquid Camo

A mystical and pétillant collaboration with friends at Màger.

Vintage: 2022
Varieties:
Style: Dry cider
Alcohol Content: 7.25% ABV
Country: Spain
Sub-region or Appellation: Empordà, Girona
Yeasts: Indigenous
Vinification: Bottled before first fermentation finishes t0 capture the bubbles in the bottle
Fining or Filtration: None
Sulfur added: None

SERPS SIDRA :: Lo Temps es Breu

A happy marriage with Finca Parera: Ruben's Xarello and and Marc's Crimson Crisp, joined in holy cofermentation. A collaborative cuvée as friendly and inviting as their makers.

Vintage: 2022
Varieties: Xarello, Crimson Crisp
Style: Dry cider
Alcohol Content: 8.8% ABV
Country: Spain
Sub-region or Appellation: Empordà, Girona
Yeasts: Indigenous
Vinification: Bottled before first fermentation finishes t0 capture the bubbles in the bottle
Fining or Filtration: None
Sulfur added: None

SERPS SIDRA :: Santa Espina

A cider featuring wild-foraged sloes and blackberries, slightly brooding yet still spritely, with generous dark fruits and a touch of structure from the sloes. Pressed to impress.

Vintage: 2020
Varieties: Roat, Nova Europa Forum, and Judor apples; foraged sloes and blackberries from the Pyrenees
Style: Dry cider
Alcohol Content: 6.4% ABV
Country: Spain
Sub-region or Appellation: Empordà, Ripollès, Vallès, and Gironès
Yeasts: Indigenous
Vinification: 12 hour maceration before pressing, and a two month maceration of the sloes and blackberries with the fermented apples; Refermented in bottle using raw honey from Finca Parera winery
Fining or Filtration: None
Sulfur added: None

SERPS SIDRA :: Futur Primitiu

Futur Primitiu is a dry-hopped natural cider with organic Cascade and Willamett hops. It boasts floral and herbaceous aromas, light-bodied with a honeyed core. A perfect cider to lure beer lovers into the fold.

Vintage: 2020
Varieties: Pink lady, Granny Smith, Fuji, Gala, Judor, Reineta, Golden
Style: Dry cider
Alcohol Content: 6.4% ABV
Country: Spain
Sub-region or Appellation: Empordà, Girona
Yeasts: Indigenous
Vinification: 2 week maceration of Pink Lady apples. Direct press of the others. Fermentation with indigenous yeasts. 20 days of dry dropping using local hops.
Fining or Filtration: None
Sulfur added: None

SERPS SIDRA :: Crèdit Variable

A charming blend of apples, pears, and persimmon, with a small amount of semi-carbonic crab apples. Tropical and tannic, complex and slightly herbal, these flavors dance around the space where wine ends and cider begins.

Vintage: 2020
Varieties: Roat, Forum, Judor, and Braeburn apples; Rocha, Leclerc, Comice, and Devoe pears; Rojo Brillante persimmon
Style: Dry cider
Alcohol Content: 7.2% ABV
Country: Spain
Sub-region or Appellation: Empordà, Ripollès, and La Selva, Girona
Yeasts: Indigenous
Vinification: Carbonic maceration of crab apples; direct-pressing and separate fermentation of apples and pears, and one month of co-maceration of the persimmon with the apples
Fining or Filtration: None
Sulfur added: None

SERPS SIDRA :: 777 (Set Set Set)

Set Set Set is a vibrant cider made with apples macerated for 5 days along with Carinyena and Garnatxa skins sourced from a nearby biodynamic winery. Elegance infused with cosmic energy and a fine tannic structure. Full of grace.

Vintage: 2021
Varieties: Ladina, Gaia, Story Inored, Golden Russeting with skins of Carinyena and Garnatxa
Style: Dry cider
Alcohol Content: 7.5% ABV
Country: Spain
Sub-region or Appellation: Catalunya
Yeasts: Indigenous
Vinification: Apples macerate for 12 hours before pressing; Grape skins macerate for one week in the fresh apple juice, and fermentation occurs without the skins. Refermentation in bottle, pet’nat style
Fining or Filtration: None
Sulfur added: None