A day at the Calvados Christian Drouin

9 November 2024 | Discover
A day at the Calvados Christian Drouin

Today’s destination: Normandy, more precisely near Pont-l’Evêque. Excellence Rhum was invited along with other wine merchants to discover this beautiful Calvados estate. Meeting at Gare Saint-Lazare, changing trains in Lisieux, and arriving at the estate around 11 a.m. We are welcomed by Guillaume Drouin himself, who takes us directly to the orchards.

Originally, apples

It has now been 300 years since cider has been produced on the estate. The oldest building dates back to the 17th century. The press that houses the still dates back to the 18th century. The production of Calvados Christian Drouin began in the 1960s.

The trees in the estate are actually varieties resulting from creation. To summarize, there are three trees in one. Through a process of grafting, a root system, a trunk, and a fruit-bearing variety have been assembled. This creates what are called high-stem trees, with fruits positioned high and a bare trunk. This allows for animals in the orchards, depending on the season, that do not disturb the fruit, but help maintain the field. This is referred to as a pre-orchard.

The estate supplies 20% of the apple needs of Calvados Christian Drouin. The AOC Calvados allows for 220 varieties of apples. Christian Drouin uses 35 of them. Some have different maturation times, while some ripen on the ground. The harvest takes place mainly in September and October.

Christian Drouin estate orchard
Christian Drouin estate orchard
Orchard of the Christian Drouin estate
Orchard of the Christian Drouin estate
Building of the Christian Drouin Estate
Building of the Christian Drouin Estate
Produce

One ton of apples produces 650 liters of juice. Christian Drouin transforms this juice into cider, pommeau, gin, and calvados. The estate, during the distillation period, can distill up to 2500 liters per day. A distillation lasts about 9 hours and 30 minutes. The product is distilled twice in a Charentais still.

Calvados is aged in oak barrels or casks from French oak. The members of the AOC are discussing opening aging to American oak. Christian Drouin currently owns 1500 barrels. In the cellars, all vintages since 1961 can be found.

For several years, the brand has been conducting special aging with a collection called “Experimental”. We taste in the cellars Calvados with Foursquare finish, Caroni, Springbank, from Whisky Mars, and other quality aging. The classic range as well as the vintages are also excellent.

Across all products (Calvados, Cider, Gin, etc.), Christian Drouin produces 180,000 bottles per year.

Christian Drouin Cellar
Christian Drouin Cellar
Charentais Alembic, Christian Drouin Estate
Charentais Alembic, Christian Drouin Estate
Christian Drouin Cellar
Christian Drouin Cellar

We would like to thank Guillaume Drouin for the welcome and Carl Jenny for organizing this visit

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Written by

Matthieu Lange
Spirits Advisor