Roger Groult Calvados

Planted on flint clay covered with fine, silty soil, our own orchards yield apples which are sweet, bitter-sweet, bitter or slightly acidic. In addition , a few selected local producers provide us with their apple-harvests to produce apple "must" for cider-making. After fermenting and undergoing sedimentation for several months, the cider, whic now contains some 5% or 6% by volume of alcohol, is distilled over a wood fire in three small stills to obtain the "Calvados du Pays d'Auge" label ("Appellation Contrôlée"), guaranteeing both its quality and origin. The various categories of "Calvados du Pays d'Auge" can then begin their long maturation in oak casks in the estate's various storehouse. When Calvados has been perfectly blended, the storehous master will only bottle part of a cask's contents. Over the years, the remaining Calvados in the cask loses some of its strength, and it will need to be blended with a twenty-year-old Calvados with a higher alcohol content before a further period of maturation lasting for several months. The approximate age of the most mature blended Calvados cannot be taken into account as a reference. This fine, well-rounded Calvados is honest but sharp