Calvados AOC Pays d'Auge Out of age +20 years La Galotière 42%

It is undoubtedly one of the great Calvados of the decade. A real old Calvados . From 2010, this blend of old vintages from 20 to 48 years old has already won 3 gold medals at the Paris agricultural competition in 2010, 2013 and 2014. It is a revelation of the Olivier family's know-how and a real consecration for 3 generations of work at the Galotière estate.

Alcohol content : 42%

Tasting notes:

Appearance: a beautiful dark dress, a brown color with rich ebony reflections.

Nose: the intensity of the rich and flattering perfumes are already the promise of a very great spirit, we can distinguish an almost smoky apple, spicy woods, lustrous with beeswax.

On the palate: the round and powerful attack already reveals a precious balance between the aromas. The almost candied caramels merge with vanilla pods, roasted coffee, chocolate and sweet tobacco. The old woods are in counterpoint with the beeswax.

It is a very structured calvados over its entire length. it stays in the mouth in a slow 3-minute decrescendo. A moment of eternity where the aromas remain as present as ever.

OUR OPINION : This calvados is an invitation to meditate on one of the most adages of French gastronomy: "little Jesus in velvet pants".

The spirit of the estate: Authentic farm calvados

Jean-Luc doesn't really like the word "domain" being used. He likes the words "farmer, peasant, agricultural". Very rigorous on the quality and excellence of the calvados distilled and matured in its cellars. He likes the rustic, lively and powerful characters of authentic farmhouse calvados. Jean-Luc is a "cider maker" in his work, he seeks the expression of the terroir of the Pays d'Auge in his calvados like his ciders.

History of the Estate: from Domfrontais to the Pays d'Auge via the Gers

Located in the south of the Pays d'Auge in a very pretty valley in the Ornais de la Vie bocage, about ten kilometers from Vimoutiers near the village of Crouttes.

In 1963, Claude and Janine Olivier, originally from Domfront, returned to their gentle Norman country after twenty years in the Gers. They quickly developed the apple orchards on the hillside plots to start producing cider and calvados.

In 1991, Jean-Luc Olivier supports his father, soon joined by his brother-in-law Pascal Choisnard. together they extend the domain. Jean-Luc has been an ardent maverick of the biodiversity of the verges of the Pays d'Auge since the 90s and thus seeks to develop on the estate all the oldest and most rustic varieties of the Pays d'Auge.

Since 2021, Pierre, the son has been arriving on the estate and making his mark around blending and orchard work.

Orchards and grapes: cultivating the biodiversity of the Pays d'Auge

With 44 ha of high and low stem orchards, there are more than fifty varieties on the estate. It is one of the finest collections of the diversity of species in the Pays d'Auge. "Be aware that at the beginning of the 20th century there were more than 750 varieties.

Since 1999, the orchards have been operated according to the principles of organic farming. Calvados from 3 to 10 years old are all organic.

The estate works in harmony the two hillsides that make up the valley on soils of red clay with flint, rich in humus. The hillside best exposed to the sun provides apples with a very high sugar content, while the least exposed hillside with low stems provides acid apples of great interest for the character of ciders and Calvados. On the top of the slopes, you get pommeau apples for robust ciders rich in alcohol.

In Crouttes, calvaodos have aromas of hazelnut. a specificity of the local vintage which could well come from the soil. this is also found in other micro-crus of the Pays d'Auge.

Apple picking: care for better cider fermentation

The apples are picked with the greatest care from All Saints Day to Christmas. The fruits of the best apple trees are even harvested in inverted umbrellas so that no microbial flora in the soil participates in the fermentations of the ciders.
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They are carefully kept for two months in their palox before being brewed.

Calvados distillation

At the turn of the 2000s, La Galotière definitely converted to the double distillation of ciders and thus conforms to the prestigious Pays d'Auge appellation. Until 2004, the calvados grown on the estate were distilled by itinerant "distillers".

But for 10 years, the Galotière estate has been developing its art of distillation after the acquisition of a gleaming 15 hl CHalvignac-Prhulo pot still, a still of excellence equipped with a precious head tank.

Calvados aging & aging

Aging takes place in two different cellars with different hygrometry. one dry and the other wet on clay. They are aged in barrels of different capacities.
Calvados are decanted regularly into tannic barrels. Barrels enriched in tannin by the conservation of cider in full fermentation during the winter. "To raise good Calvados, you have to know how to raise your barrels."
These Calvados combinations give all the complexity of the blends of Calvados from the Galotière estate.

Blend of Calvados from three old vintages in equal thirds barrels 20, 30 and over 50 years old. If the first were produced on the farm, the last is a treasure straight from Domfront, the original vintage of the Olivier family... who keep the secret of their finds.