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Aeblerov & Brand

Brutal!!! Cider Brand 2019

Price: $36.95
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Tasting notes

This is what happens when a Copenhagen cider house and a Pfalz natural wine producer share fruit and a philosophy: the Kerner and Riesling from Brand's limestone-loam Bockenheimer vineyards push Brutal!!! firmly into wine territory, with white grape aromatics, quince bitterness, and a dry, lively mousse. At 9% ABV it drinks like a cider but behaves on the table like a low-intervention pét-nat.

BodyFruitTanninAcidity
QuinceGreen AppleWhite PeachFlint
  • Style: Dry, lightly sparkling cider-wine hybrid; cloudy pale gold; vinous apple, quince, and white grape aromatics; 9% ABV
  • Grapes & Terroir: 50% Red Aroma apple, 10% quince, 20% Riesling, 20% Kerner; Weingut Brand fruit from organically certified limestone-loam vineyards, Bockenheim, Pfalz
  • Winemaking: Wild/spontaneous fermentation; nothing added, nothing removed; natural carbonation via bottle fermentation on residual sugars; unfiltered; sediment present
  • Serving: Serve cold at 38-44F; open carefully due to natural carbonation; pour gently to manage sediment or embrace it
  • Pairing: Oysters, cured salmon, soft-rind cheese, charcuterie, radish and butter, smoked mackerel
  • Similar To: For fans of natural pét-nat and low-intervention cider who want vinous complexity without wine-level ABV

Brutal!!! is an annual collaboration between Æblerov, the Copenhagen-based natural cider producer, and Weingut Brand, a fifth-generation organic winery in Bockenheim, Pfalz. The 2019 blend is 50% Red Aroma apples, 10% quince, and 20% each of Riesling and Kerner grapes sourced directly from Brand's organically farmed vineyards in the Palatinate. Wild-fermented with no additions, nothing removed.

Red Aroma is a Danish eating apple with pronounced aromatic character and high acidity, common in Æblerov's blends. Quince adds grip, bitterness, and a distinct floral-astringent quality. The Riesling and Kerner from Weingut Brand bring vineyard-derived acidity and a petrol-tinged, white-flower aromatic lift that pulls the whole thing unmistakably toward wine territory. The result sits somewhere between a natural pét-nat and a funky cider: vinous, dry, and lively.

Æblerov's production philosophy follows the same rules as natural wine: no added yeasts, no sugar, no pasteurization. Bottle fermentation occurs on naturally occurring sugars using wild yeast from the fruit's surface, producing fine, natural carbonation. Sediment is expected. The 2019 clocks in at 9% ABV, making it lighter on alcohol than most natural wines but fully dry on the palate.

Weingut Brand gained organic certification in 2017 and also applies biodynamic treatments across their estate. Their Kerner and Riesling vines grow on limestone-loam soils around the Bockenheimer Sonnenberg hill at elevations between 150 and 350 meters, one of the coolest sites in the Pfalz, with persistent winds funneled from the Donnersberg mountain. All Brand wines are made with no or minimal added sulfites.

Serve with soft-rind cheeses, charcuterie, or anything with a fatty or salty edge that benefits from high acidity and a dry finish. The quince bitterness and vinous character handle raw oysters, cured salmon, or a simple radish-and-butter spread well. Avoid anything sweet, which will make the wine read as thin.

Wine details

Dry/Sweet:, Dry
Wine Type:, Sparkling Wine
Wine Style:, Sparkling
Grapes:, Red Aroma, Quince, Riesling, Kerner
Farming:, Organic
Vintage:, 2019
Alcohol:, 9%
Country:, Denmark / Germany
Region:, Copenhagen, Denmark / Pfalz, Germany
Appellation:, N/A
Bottle Size:, 750ml
Sugar Level:, Zero Added Sugar

We will process and ship your order in 2-3 business days, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with tracking as soon as the Carrier scans the shipping label.

Ground shipping time depends on location, here's a breakdown:

West Coast: 1-2 business days
Midwest: 3-4 business days
East Coast: 5 business days

Process time is not shipping time. Shipping time starts from the days successive to the day of shipping, after the order has been processed.

See here our shipping policy.


Important Compliance Requirements

FedEx and other carriers we might occasionally use can only deliver wine to customers who are 21 years or older. Someone must be at the address to receive the package, carriers don't just drop a package and leave. They must ensure the person receiving the wine is 21 or older.


Re-shipping a Package

If a package is returned to us after three failed delivery attempts, we can only re-ship the wine upon payment of a re-shipping fee, to be determined based on the shipping address and number of bottles. Shipping wine is extremely expensive. We are sorry about this, but we have no other choice. Please make sure there's always someone at the address you enter as your shipping address.

If you'd like to receive a refund for a package that was returned to us after FedEx made three delivery attempts, we can do that but we must keep a $20 refund fee; FedEx charges us a lot of money for returns, unfortunately, I can't stress this enough.


Re-routing a Package

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Heat/Frost damage

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Placed an order. What next?

1. You will receive an order confirmation email with your order summary.*

2. As soon as your order ships from the warehouse, usually within 2-3 business days, this applies to all shipping rates, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with your tracking information. 2DAY shipping refers to shipping time; we still need 2-3 business days to prepare an order. We need to pick and pack, QA, add printed collateral, and palletize the orders.

3. Please track your package using the tracking service.

4. The carrier will attempt delivery a maximum of 3 times. After 3 delivery attempts, your package will be sent back to our warehouse.**

*Please ensure your email address is correct; otherwise, you will not receive the order and shipping confirmation emails.

**If delivery is attempted 3 times without success, or if you fail to retrieve your package from the carrier depot by the stated deadline, the shipping fee will not be refunded to the customer.

Returns Policy

If you are not satisfied with your purchase, please contact us at (424) 414-2040 or via e-mail at hello@primalwine.com between 9 am and 5 pm Pacific Standard Time, Monday through Sunday, we would like to understand and try to solve your concerns. We can offer refunds only as store credit.

Producer profile

Aeblerov & Brand

Æblerov was founded in 2011 by Christopher Melin and Morten Sylvest-Noer in Copenhagen, Denmark, initially as a hobby project using apples gathered from private gardens. The name translates from Danish as 'apple theft,' a reference to how the founders sourced their first fruit. By 2015 they had their first commercial vintage and have since supplied ciders to Copenhagen restaurants including Noma, Geranium, and Kadeau. Production is now based in Svinninge at the facility of To Øl, one of Denmark's leading craft breweries.

Æblerov works primarily with organic eating apples from Danish orchards rather than traditional cider-specific varieties, focusing on varieties with high aromatic complexity such as Red Aroma, Ingrid Marie, and Holsteiner Cox. The apples are ground and macerated for approximately 24 hours before pressing. Fermentation is spontaneous, driven by wild yeasts on the fruit's surface, with no added sugars, yeasts, or sulfur. Carbonation develops naturally in bottle using the méthode ancestrale. Some cuvées are disgorged; others are released with their lees intact.

Weingut Brand was founded in 1891 in Bockenheim and is now run by fifth-generation brothers Daniel and Jonas Brand, who took over formally from their father Jürgen in 2014. Daniel began transitioning the estate to organic farming in 2007; the estate received organic certification in 2017. The brothers also apply biodynamic treatments and produce wines with no or minimal added sulfites across their range. Kerner from their estate was used in the 2019 Brutal!!! cider alongside Riesling, both grown on the limestone-loam Bockenheimer Sonnenberg hill.

Wine region

Copenhagen, Denmark / Pfalz, Germany, Denmark / Germany

Weingut Brand's vineyards are located around the village of Bockenheim an der Weinstraße in the northern Pfalz, near the border with Rheinhessen. The Bockenheimer Sonnenberg hill spans elevations from 150 to 350 meters, and the site is one of the coolest in the broader Pfalz region. Winds channeled through two valleys from the Donnersberg mountain, which reaches around 650 meters, keep the vineyards well-ventilated and reduce mildew pressure. Soils are limestone-rich loam with significant shell limestone content, giving Brand's Riesling and Kerner their characteristic mineral tension.

The Pfalz is Germany's second-largest wine region by area, stretching roughly 85 kilometers along the eastern slopes of the Haardt Mountains with most vineyards oriented toward the Rhine plain. The northern Pfalz, where Brand is based, tends to produce wines with higher acidity and less immediate richness than the warmer Mittelhaardt zone further south. Riesling and Pinot family varieties dominate quality production, though Kerner, a Riesling x Trollinger cross developed in Germany in the 1960s, is planted across the region for its cold-hardiness and aromatic profile similar to Riesling.

Frequently asked question

We will process and ship your order in 2-3 business days, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with tracking as soon as the Carrier scans the shipping label.

Ground shipping time depends on location, here's a breakdown:

West Coast: 1-2 business days
Midwest: 3-4 business days
East Coast: 5 business days

Process time is not shipping time. Shipping time starts from the days successive to the day of shipping, after the order has been processed.

See here our shipping policy.

Signature on delivery is mandatory for wine deliveries. Please make sure someone is at the shipping address to sign for the package.

If applicable, please consider delivering the package to a business address to ensure someone is available to sign for the package.

We also have the option of delivering the package to a Carrier's store for pickup. Please reach out to us to coordinate.

Carrier will try to delivery a package up to three times before returning the package to us.

See here our shipping policy.

If you miss a delivery and a package gets returned to us we have two options:

1) Reship the package right away: due to the very high cost of shipping and returns, we must charge a re-shipping fee to be determined based on package size and shipping destination.

2) Consolidate the returned package with your next order: this option is free of charge and it's the most popular option.

See here our shipping policy.

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