As the colour develops so the cask may impart flavours such as vanilla, butterscotch, nut, chocolate and spice. Maturation in wood turns the spirit from clear to golden, then mahogany and eventually deep brown. Spirit aged in cask and vat may be blended together. Maturation takes place in 200 to 400-litre oak casks or in oak vats as large as 30,000 litres. (Pays d'Auge calvados must be made using a pot still.)Ĭalvados must be aged in French oak casks for a minimum of two years although most calvados is aged for longer and some as long as 20 years or more. The cider is then either single-distilled in a column still or double-distilled in a pot still with the distillate produced around 68-72% alc./vol. Every calvados producer is by definition a cider producer and it is common for producers to also bottle and sell cider. Few producers have switched from just the use of wild yeastsįermentation lasts from one to three months, producing a dry cider with an alcoholic strength of at least 4.5% alc./vol.
APPLEJACK DEFINITION SKIN
traditionally, only natural yeasts from the skin of the fruit are used without additional yeast added but in 2017 the law was changed to allow the use of cultivated yeast. at ambient temperature (temperature control is not permitted) using just sugars from the fruit (no sugar may be added) The fruit is harvested (either by hand or mechanically) from mid-October into December, washed, crushed and pressed. Tall varieties (considered by some to produce superior apples) take some 15 years before they start to crop apples but allow farmers to bring cows into the orchards to graze so naturally fertilised. The short trees mature more quickly but require more fertiliser and care. There are two types of orchards in the calvados region, those growing tall 'high stem' or standard apple trees and those with short 'low stem' trees. Pear juice may also be added to the apple juice and the varieties of pear which may be used are also controlled under the AOC rules. The use of a blend of these four types of apple ensures an aromatic and balanced calvados. bittersweet varieties (contribute tannins) sweet varieties (contribute sugar for fermentation)Ĥ. tart / acidic varieties (contribute freshness)ģ. More than 120 different varieties of apple may be used in calvados production and these are divided into four types:Ģ. single column distillation (pot still distillation is not permitted) Calvados Production must be made with at least 30% perry pears specific fruity style of calvados from an area awarded AOC status at the end of 1997 small production zone around the city of Domfront in Orne county fermentation must be for a minimum of six weeks generally considered to produce the best Calvados area around the villages of Orne and Eure single column distillation or double pot still distillation may be used but almost all producers use single column distillation accounts for over 70% of total production encompasses much of the Basse-Normandie region Like Cognac and Armagnac, the Calvados-making region is divided into smaller sub-regions, each with their own Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée (AOC). (Calva, the French shortening of calvados, is used to denote an apple brandy other than Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée Calvados.) Sub-regions The name is an Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée, meaning that calvados can only be produced in defined areas of North-Western France. Calvados is a French brandy made from apples (though it can also contain pears).
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