NETJETS EU VOLUME 15 2021

FRANCK PRIGNET/LE FIGARO MAGAZINE/LAIF (2)
From the smallest orchards, like Michel Huard’s
(calvadoshuard.com) 15ha parcel, where cows roam
beneath the trees’ high-trained branches amid a tableau
of decaying moss- and ivy-covered granite castles and
farmhouses, to the largest, Boulard (calvados-boulard.
com), these purveyors look positively petite when
compared to their outsized cognac counterparts. And yet,
many of them use the same terms as that grape-based
brandy on their labels: Fine, VSOP and XO, for example.
“We try to make blends the same every year,” says
Drouin. “The work on vintages is different. Each year
shows a unique personality which evolves with time
spent in [the] cask.” That diversity is reflected in the
glass: younger calvados, such as the Boulard VSOP, is
redolent of fresh ripe apples with a hint of vanilla, while
a more mature blend such as Groult’s Age d’Or is richer
and more complex, with spice and caramel notes. Older
vintages keep that complexity but grow more delicate
and elegant, sometimes showing surprising aromas like
green olive and brown butter, as in Drouin’s 1939 bottling.
These expressions of the apple are regulated, as
are production areas, of which the best known and
most revered is Calvados Pays d’Auge, between Caen
and Rouen, where, according to Drouin, the resulting
elixir is “rounder and milder, rich and long,” notably
because it’s double-distilled. Pays d’Auge is also home
to an avant-garde collective who have banded together
to create Esprit Calvados (esprit-calvados.com), an
association of five family-owned estates. “We started
in 2008 from the will of some producers with the
same ‘DNA,’ to show that there is a young generation
APPLE HIGH
The new generation of calvados makers
is led by the likes of Richard Prével of
Boulard, left, which has the largest
orchards in the region
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