Midwinter in the Southern Hemisphere. Midsummer in the North. Orchards on both side of the planet.
While orchards across the Northern Hemisphere move through the long days of midsummer, orchardists in southern Chile are pruning century-old apple trees in the middle of winter. The contrast is a reminder that cider is a year-round agricultural story, shaped by region, season, weather, soil and the age of the trees themselves.
This feature is based on firsthand responses gathered by eCiderNews from orchardists and cider makers in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Texas, and Chile during the first week of July 2026. Their observations reflect conditions in their own orchards at the time of publication.
For this first edition of Around the World’s Orchards, eCiderNews reached out to cider makers and orchardists in several countries with one simple question:
What are your orchards telling you right now?
Their answers reveal a global cider landscape marked by heat, drought, spring frost, winter rain, young orchards, old trees and the steady work of stewardship.
Germany: “I’m Hot and Thirsty.”
In Germany, Patrick Mann of 1785 Cidery says the orchard’s message is clear.
“I’m hot and thirsty.”
After a strong blossom season with no late frost, dry weather and plenty of pollinator activity, expectations were high for pears and more mixed for apples. The apples were already expected to be somewhat patchy because of the biennial nature of older standard trees.
Then came the heat.
Patrick says the region is now in the middle of a heat dome and drought. Without irrigation, the trees have started dropping fruitlets to conserve resources. That means the harvest is now expected to be very small.
There may still be one bright spot. A smaller crop can sometimes bring higher sugar levels and more concentrated flavor, something cider makers may value even when yields are low.
Normandy: Waiting to See
In Normandy, where recent heat has raised concerns across one of the world’s most famous cider regions, Etienne Dupont of Domaine Dupont offered a short but serious assessment.
“The crop to come will be very poor. We will see what happens.”
Sometimes a few words say enough.
Domaine Dupont is one of the best-known cider producers in France, making the comment especially notable. While the full impact of the season will not be known until harvest, the message from Normandy is one of caution.
The Netherlands: Not Every Orchard Responds the Same
In the Netherlands, Marcel Janssen of De Gerdeneer is seeing a season of contrasts.
His 26-year-old high-stem apple trees are heavily loaded with fruit, with branches bending toward the ground. Quince, he says, may produce a bumper crop this year.
But not every tree is thriving.
Marcel had about 100 cider apple trees that were roughly seven years old when COVID-related financial pressures and a divorce forced him to sell the land where they had been planted. Last year, he replanted the orchard beside his home. Those trees are now struggling through dry conditions, producing small leaves and undersized fruit.
The contrast is striking.
In the southern part of Limburg, Marcel picks from heritage orchards growing on hillsides where the trees appear far more resistant to dry summers. One orchard, planted on a steep slope with flint stone beneath it, seems to flourish in seasons when other trees suffer.
“So all in all,” Marcel says, “we have a lot of different apple varieties on different soils. Some will suffer, some will show their absolute best.”
The season also brought an unexpected lesson from spring. In his greenhouse, Marcel grows apricots, peaches, nectarines, persimmons, plums and pawpaw. A mild frost of just –2°C (28°F) damaged flowers and young fruit. He had never seen that kind of loss from such a temperature before.
It is a reminder that July’s story is not only about midsummer heat. Sometimes the biggest impact on a harvest happened months earlier.
Texas: Summer Is Not Always the Biggest Story
In Texas, Kanga Cider offered a different perspective.
While parts of Europe have been dealing with heat and drought, this summer in Texas has been fairly typical so far. In fact, rainfall has been slightly better than in some recent summers.
For maker Rachel Schei, the larger challenge came in spring.
A freeze during blossom time affected the pear trees, meaning there will not be a pear harvest this year.
The apple trees are still young and not yet producing a full crop. Although they flower and can set fruit, the fruit is removed so the trees put more energy into growth.
One thing that might surprise a visitor from Normandy, Rachel noted, is that “certain European cider apple and perry pear trees can survive Texas heat, especially on dwarf and semi-dwarf rootstocks. Still, the bulk of our trees are southern varieties selected for the climate.”
European visitors may also be surprised that North Texas receives enough winter chill hours to support fruit production.
For dry summers, the mature pear trees are left to manage as they are. Younger trees are supported with drip irrigation and mulch when available.
Chile: Winter Stewardship
While apples continue sizing up in the Northern Hemisphere, southern Chile’s orchards are in one of the quietest and most important times of year.
Carlos Flores of Punta de Fierro describes July as contemplative. Leaves have fallen, revealing the structure of century-old apple trees that can reach 8 to 20 meters in height. Their branches stand against grey winter skies, surrounded by green pastures, native forest and the soft rains of southern Chile.
To visitors, the orchards can look almost wild. They are not modern high-density systems with neat rows of dwarf trees. They are heritage orchards, planted more than a century ago, where every tree has its own shape, history and character.
Winter is when that character becomes visible.
It is also the season of pruning.
Between May and July, Carlos says, the work focuses on rejuvenation pruning. The purpose is not simply to increase production. It is to extend the lives of trees that have already lived for more than 100 years.
Interior branches are removed to bring light and air into the canopy. Vertical shoots, known locally as chupones (called water sprouts in the U.S.), are removed because they compete for the tree’s energy. Occasionally, one promising shoot is tied and trained to become a future scaffold branch, knowing it may take three years before it bears fruit.
Pruning these trees requires experience and restraint. Carlos says they never remove more than one third of the canopy, always preserving the tree’s balance so its limbs can withstand strong spring winds from the Pacific.
“Each orchard is much more than a source of apples,” Carlos says. “They are living landscapes, family histories and an important part of Chile’s cider heritage.”
His colleague Eli Shanks added another important layer. The constant fog and rain in their area keep the cidery at about 1°C (34°F) through much of the winter, making it easier to achieve the very slow fermentations they value.
That detail connects the landscape directly to the cider in the glass.
Perhaps Carlos captures the feeling best when he says visiting these orchards feels less like entering a commercial orchard and more like walking through a living cathedral of apple trees.
Different Seasons. Shared Stewardship.
Taken together, these responses show that July means something different in every special spot in Ciderville around the world.
In Germany, trees are hot and thirsty. In Normandy, one of France’s most recognized cider producers is bracing for a poor crop. In the Netherlands, older high-stem trees are loaded with fruit while younger transplanted trees struggle in drought. In Texas, summer has been fairly typical, but a spring freeze already erased the pear crop. In Chile, winter pruning continues among century-old apple trees while slow fermentations unfold in the cold, foggy cidery.
Every orchard is telling a different story.
The common thread is stewardship. Whether growers are managing heat, drought, frost, young trees, old trees or winter rains, each decision made now shapes the cider that will follow.
What Are Your Orchards Telling You?
As the seasons change, eCiderNews will continue checking in with orchardists around the world. If you’d like your orchard featured in the next edition of Around the World’s Orchards, we’d love to hear from you.
Continue the Conversation
Episode 273: The Mountain & Tub | Stories in Ciderville (1785 Cidery)
Episode 485: Cider as a Catalyst for Chile’s Edible Forest
Episode 337: Étienne Dupont on Tasting Calvados | Domaine Dupont
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