Wild, Tamed, Lost, Revived

A multiple-time James Beard Award finalist for Outstanding Wine, Spirits, or Beer Professional, Diane Flynt founded Foggy Ridge Cider in 1997 after leaving her corporate career and produced cider until 2018. She now sells cider apples from the Foggy Ridge orchards in the Virginia Blue Ridge Mountains.

For more information about Diane Flynt, visit the Author Page.

"Flynt is sharing her knowledge in the definitive Wild, Tamed, Lost, Revived . . . The book is part history, part botanical reference, and part memoir, chronicling the cidermaker’s own journey and experiences in the orchard."—Garden & Gun

"Flynt is a natural storyteller. Her voice gently draws the reader into her world; a world of apples and dreams."—Cidercraft Magazine

""Flynt‘s life story is a fascinating parallel to her scholarly but beautifully written and thorough tale of the history of the Southern apple."—Gardenia, Southern Garden History Society

"For as long as I have known the delightful and learned orchardist, cidermaker, and apple whisperer Diane Flynt, I've imagined what a rare gift it would be to sit down with her and say, 'Please, tell me everything you've learned about southern apples and how it is you came to be on such a journey to find out.' This book is almost all that. It could only be better if it came packaged with Diane's welcoming smile."—Ronni Lundy, scholar from the holler and author of Victuals: An Appalachian Journey, with Recipes

"Diane Flynt stands in a pivotal position within the core of "Apple-lachia," which harbors the most diversity of apple varieties remaining in North America. Rediscovering and reviving some of the rarest and most curious fruits on our continent, she has restored forgotten flavors to the liquid art of hard cider and enriched the cultural heritage of orchard keepers and cidermakers. If there were a Nobel Prize for advancing a kind of conservation you can taste, Diane Flynt would be blessed with that honor."—Gary Paul Nabhan, ethnobotanist, author and MacArthur Grant recipient

"Diane Flynt says it herself: she's someone who loves nothing more than being at the top of a swing, because it lets her see the familiar with new eyes. Decades ago, she trained those eyes on—if you'll pardon me—the most boring, ubiquitous fruit: the apple. But now that we can see apples from her point of view—their stories, their botany, their place in creating, changing, and reflecting the landscape of the South and of our country—I have never been more fascinated by them. Diane's a brilliant mind, a passionate grower, and a generous writer; this book is a gift."—Francis Lam, host, The Splendid Table