🥃 Calvados Pays d'Auge

Calvados Pays d'Auge is a calvados appellation from the historic Pays d'Auge region of Normandy. It must be distilled twice in a copper pot still, pears for perry may make up no more than 30% of the raw material, and oak ageing lasts at least two years. It is bottled at 40% ABV or more. It was the first cider spirit in France to receive an AOC, in 1942.

A protected name. In the EU register the name belongs to category 10, cider spirit and perry spirit; the applicant is the Calvados Pays d'Auge producers' syndicate. The zone includes 290 communes, mostly in the Calvados department and also in Orne and Eure: from the English Channel coast to the Perche hills, between the Caen and Falaise plains and the Risle basin.

Orchards and raw material. At least 70% of the apple trees are phenolic, tannin-rich varieties, and at least 45% of the fruit comes from high-stem orchards where livestock graze under the trees. Varieties described in the 18th and 19th centuries still grow here: Bisquet, Saint Martin and Germaine. Adding sugar to the juice is prohibited, and cider must have at least 4.5% ABV before distillation.

Production and history. At least 21 days pass between pressing and distillation. Distillation is double, in copper pot stills of up to 30 hl, to 72% ABV, and the spirit matures in oak barrels. As early as 1778, an inventory of a farm estate records 8,800 litres of cider spirit, and in 1793 a spirit from Lisieux cost more than other Normandy spirits.

Why this matters to you. The «Pays d'Auge» designation guarantees double distillation in a pot still, while ordinary Calvados may be distilled in a column. The age statements VS, VSOP and XO count from the youngest spirit. It is a strong drink, at least 40% ABV. The WHO reminds us: there is no safe level of alcohol consumption.