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Calvados

Calvados is apple brandy and occasionally pear brandy (Poire Calvados) from Normandy. Three AOCs govern production: Calvados Pays d'Auge (double distillation in copper pot stills required, from the Auge valley), Calvados Domfrontais (single distillation permitted, minimum 30% pear must), and the broader Calvados appellation (column still permitted). The raw material cider pressed from traditional bittersweet and bittersharp apple varieties specific to the Norman orchard tradition, with over 200 named varieties recognised in the Pays d'Auge differentiates calvados from other fruit brandies and requires slow fermentation before distillation.

Christian Drouin anchors Bouchon's range a leading Pays d'Auge estate at Coudray-Rabut, which grows its own orchards, produces cider, distils in copper pot stills, and matures on site. The Drouin range runs from young Fine and Reserve expressions through to XO and Hors d'Age, including the Whisky Finesse expression (Scotch malt finished in Drouin's Calvados casks). Roger Groult (Saint-Cyr-du-Ronceray, Pays d'Auge) specialises in traditional estate production and older vintage releases. Adrien Camut (Beuvron-en-Auge, Pays d'Auge) is one of the smallest and most traditional estates in the region.