Taste ! At the Manor of Apreval
Manufacturing secrets
In pictures, a commented visit of the distillery, from the press to the winery.
December, at the Manoir d'Apreval (Pennedepie - Nord Pays d'Auge). Agathe Letellier, producer of organic ciders and apple juice, Calvados Pays d'Auge and pommeau de Normandie, is busy with her team working on the day's vintage. The juice from these apples, stored in bags for a month and a half, is rinsed, sorted by hand, grated and extracted in the press.
"Then there will be another vintage, without storage this time, in immediate collection and crushing, in the same day. We'll be done by mid-December," says Agathe Letellier, head of the winery, which offers guided tours from the orchards to the winery, including the press and the vat room, and tastings of products from its 17 varieties of apples and pears. "There is a vintage effect that explains why we don't harvest the same apples every year. They will have more or less density, nitrogen or sugar depending on the temperature throughout the year, during brewing and fermentations."
The bitterness is a typical characteristic of the Pays d'Auge.
The vat house then receives "all the juice obtained from September to December for the production of apple juice, cider, cider for distillation - which is the basis of calvados - and even the must that we create to make pommeau. Depending on its destination, the juice will undergo a different treatment by us. After fermentation, the cider (fermented apple juice) will be bottled in February in three distinct vintages (Moelleux - Brut - AOP Pays d'Auge), produced each year at the Manoir d'Apreval.
What does the Pays d'Auge PDO guarantee? How to define the "Pays d'Auge taste" and what are the aromatic nuances in the apple varieties? With which dishes should we associate sweet and raw ciders? In the company of Benjamin Preston, owner of the Bistro Fleuri (Villerville), who serves ciders and calvados from the Manoir d'Apreval, Agathe Letellier invites you on a guided tour of her distillery.
