Name: Calvados Cidre
Location: Les Vergers de La Gentilehommiere
A French couple have been running this cider farm for 15 years, they speak very little English but speak slow enough so as to be understood easier by tourists, they are both very patient and we were able to understand most of what the other was saying, they were also very eager to learn English as we were conversing and asking for the English versions of things for their future references. They are lovely people, making incredibly delicious products in a very admirable way and if you get the chance I thoroughly recommend trying it out.
From what we gathered from our tour through our bodged French to English translations we found out a lot about the place:
-Their orchard is 30 hectres/74 acres (That’s a lot of land!!!!!!)
-They have 1,000 trees
-Each September the apples are picked by hand, washed by hand then taken to be washed again by machine
-Only four people are involved in the process and they carry the apples in bags of 500 kilos. Each tonne of apples collected produces 300 litres of juice
-No chemicals are used in any of the processes
-It is eco friendly, has zero waste and is very economical
“The Circle of Liiiiiiife”
-Their cows eat the grass to keep it maintained, the bees pollinate the trees, the apples and honey are used for produce in the shop, the pulp from the processes of making the apple juice etc is fed to the cows who then fertilise the land and the circle starts again 🙂
Products:
- Honey
- Cider Vinegar
- Apple juice
- Apperitif
- Demi sec
- Brut
- 5 year Calvados
- 8 year Calvados
The Jus De Pommes (apple juice) is double filtered and pasteurised before being bottled [Due to translation issues I’m unsure if this applies to all of the products or just the apple juice though, sorry]. It tastes so fresh but with a completely smooth texture, no pulp at all- it’s delicious! I have never had such amazing apple juice and I have tried a fair few before – I love apple juice, of course I had to buy some to bring home with me.
We were also told that the house is from the 1700’s, the original owner didn’t have any children to pass the property down to, so gave the house and land to his farmer and it has been a farm ever since which I think is amazing.
If you happen to be in the area or are going to be going in the future I highly recommend visiting this place, there is also a very cute dog who is currently pregnant and who we found out is very friendly, loves a good belly rub and lots of attention, so when you visit there will either be a very cuddly pregnant mummy dog or lots of puppies running around ^_^
If you want to check it out have a look at their website or the review site we found it on.
Until next time, TTFN.
What do you think? Are you an apple juice/cider fan? Have you been to this place? Let me know in the comments.
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