Calvados

Cider apple trees appeared in Normandy between the 10th and 12th centuries following the trade routes between northwestern Spain and the Cotentin region.
These varieties, rich in tannins, quickly supplanted the wild apple trees whose fruit was previously used to make a drink called "pomatium" and allowed the development of cider production and later distillation.

Cider brandy is attested to in the 16th century in the diary of Gilles de Gouberville, a gentleman from the Cotentin region, who mentions, on March 28, 1553, that the cultivation of cider apple trees was encouraged by the arrival of new varieties from the Basque Country.

The cider brandy trade became flourishing during the 18th century and the fall of the Ancien Régime allowed the abolition of the fiscal borders between the provinces and the Parisians discovered the cider brandy originating from a newly created department: Calvados. The name Calvados will then be progressively associated with the Norman cider brandy. It knew its golden age during the phylloxera epidemic which devastated the vineyards of France and Europe at the end of the 19th century.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Normandy, like other cider-producing regions, produced alcohol bought by the State for its armament industry. At the same time, the distilleries continued to produce cider brandy. This double activity and the resulting frauds led to a reaction from the "bouilleurs de cru" (distillers) who demanded in the 1930's the protection of the traditional production of Calvados, a term that was increasingly usurped to describe cider brandies produced in any region.
Calvados thus obtained its appellation of controlled origin (AOC) in 1942.

Currently, more than 50% of the calvados production is exported.

Calvados can be made from over 300 varieties of apples and over 150 varieties of pears.
The fruit is harvested and pressed, and the resulting must undergoes natural fermentation. The varieties of cider apples used are either sweet (such as the red duret variety), tart (such as the rambault variety), bittersweet or bitter (such as mettais, saint-martin, frequin or red binet).
Bitter apples, which are inedible, are used in particular to limit the sugar content of sweet apples in the must.
It is the subtle combination of these varieties that gives the cider to be distilled the balance and the character that will be found in the Calvados.