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TASTING NOTES<br />
PITY THE FRENCHMAN with no vineyards in his<br />
département – unless he has apples instead. That’s<br />
the fate of Normandy, the region memorialised by<br />
Impressionists where the cliffs and beaches give way to<br />
gentle hills that are green and damp but rarely hot, so<br />
growing wine grapes has never really been an option.<br />
And so was born calvados, the third and sometimes<br />
forgotten brandy of France, which, unlike cognac or<br />
armagnac, is made from apples, and tastes like it.<br />
“A mix of terroir, weather and a lot of apple varieties –<br />
around 300,” are what make Calvados special, according<br />
to Jean-Roger Groult of Roger Groult (calvados-groult.<br />
com), the fifth-generation producer in Saint-Cyr-du-<br />
Ronceray, who says his ancestor Pierre started distillation<br />
between 1850 and 1860. “He used to produce for<br />
[the] family and sell to neighbours,” before demand<br />
increased and he won his first gold medal in 1893.<br />
Even today, those 300 pomme varieties, sharp<br />
and all but inedible, wouldn’t befit a tarte tatin. “They<br />
are very different than eating apples and do not<br />
grow in many places,” says 42-year-old Guillaume<br />
Drouin at Christian Drouin (calvados-drouin.com) in<br />
Pont-l’Évêque, a village best known for its delicious<br />
square-shaped cheese. Drouin, whose half-timbered<br />
estate is open for visits, grows 20 of those varieties,<br />
divided into four categories: tart, bitter, bittersweet<br />
and sweet. Every calvados is a blend of these<br />
types, made into a cider, then distilled and aged.<br />
FRANCK PRIGNET/LE FIGARO MAGAZINE/LAIF<br />
DAVID MORGANTI<br />
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