Mariana Freeman left public administration to make craft cider in Trevelin, Chubut. Using wild apples that were previously wasted, she produces natural cider with no added sugar, vinegar and jelly, and describes herself as the only woman with master cider maker training in the province.
Mariana Freeman was born in Esquel, worked for years in the provincial public administration and four years ago decided to change her life. Today, settled in Trevelin, Chubut, she makes craft cider under the brand Maga Sidra Pura Vida from apples grown in wild orchards that previously ended up on the ground or as feed for cows.
The starting point was an asado at an apple orchard in Trevelin, where she arrived as a guest. There she found trees loaded with fruit that, for the most part, was going to waste. "It was like it was the first time I had eaten apples, because I would bite into them and it was like the juice exploded in your head," she recalled.
The idea took shape after a trip to Salta, where she came across a grape must distillery and learned that apples could be used to make calvados, a French drink obtained by distilling cider. Back home, she took the proposal to a friend and together they began to think about making use of those apples: first came the cider and, over time, other products.
Four years later, Mariana left her salaried job, settled in Trevelin and launched her own plant. She describes herself as a "master cider maker" and says she is the only woman with that training in the province, after completing a diploma course at the Universidad Nacional de Río Negro and training with INTA.
Her work begins long before bottling: she walks the orchards, selects trees, organizes the harvest and hauls the crates to the plant, where she washes, mills and presses the fruit, oversees fermentation and handles bottling and labeling.
"The cider I make is different from the best-known industrial versions. It has no added sugar and no subsequent interventions: it uses apple juice and lets it ferment, monitoring and accompanying the process until it reaches the right conditions for bottling," she explained. And she stressed: "It is a product with no interventions. The sugar you start to taste is the apple's own sugar, and the aromas come from the three varieties I use."
For Mariana, much of the product's identity lies in the quality of the raw material. She even keeps apples harvested in May that, stored in crates in a dark place, retain their fragrance months later.
One of the venture's main challenges is securing raw material in sufficient quantity and in suitable condition: Trevelin has numerous wild apple trees spread out in small clusters, so not all of them receive the same care or have the same yield. She currently harvests mainly at a property near Los Cipreses and keeps looking for new rural sites.
"This year, in addition, we are planning a planting of 13 cider apple trees from the Alto Valle, in collaboration with Antonia, from the Tierra de Brotes venture in La Banda," she said. She also wants to add small apple trees on the plant's grounds to hold training activities and show pruning and harvesting work.
Mariana is of Welsh descent and located a property linked to the 1902 referendum, where apple trees and oaks were planted and which she is now seeking to recover. Her intention is to tie that history of Welsh settlement, rural life and apple production to the identity of her cider.
Production is still small-scale. In the 2026 harvest she obtained a blend of approximately 220 bottles of 750 milliliters and another 400 bottles of 330 milliliters from a single variety. "We also make apple vinegar and use the pomace left after pressing to produce jelly. The idea is to use as much of the raw material as possible and explore new products based on its characteristics," she says.
For this season she will add a processing machine with a capacity of 400 kilograms of fruit per hour, which she decided to buy in China because she did not find equipment of those characteristics designed for small ventures on the Argentine market. The investment will allow her to process more apples, store the juice in cold rooms and spread production across the year, for which she has a space provided by the Municipality of Trevelin.
The goal is to move toward sustainable production throughout the twelve months and to follow the cider sector's trend of no longer associating this drink exclusively with the year-end holidays. "It is a very versatile drink that can go with a cake, a savory dish or an afternoon snack," she maintains.
Sales have a strategic point at the Trevelin tulip field, where Mariana offers her products to visitors from different places and meets both consumers who have never tried a craft cider and people who know the drink from traditional regions such as Asturias.
Her pairing suggestions include smoked trout from a local producer, capers and white cheese on toast; for the sweet version she chose the Welsh cake from Naima, a venture with a family connection to her roots.
"Among my next projects is offering harvest and pruning experiences and field days so visitors can get to know the apple trees, take part in the tasks and get closer to the production process," she confided. "People can come and harvest with me, live what I lived, climb the trees and disconnect from the world of phones to connect with that magical silence," she said.
She also considers it important to give visibility to the people behind each venture and to recognize the work of women in productive spaces. "It is a pleasure to be able to choose where to live, where to breathe and to have an activity I am passionate about," she reflects.
