I purchased this bottle directly from the producer at a farmers market in Normandy a few years back. At the time they had a few vintages to sample: this 1998, one from the early 90s, and one from the late 80s. We sampled all of them and this was the fruitiest, so I bought it. Let’s see if I made a good decision.
Smell: sweet ripe apple then some astringent wood and acetone. After several minutes in my glass, there’s baked peach and a musty note as well.
Taste: starts with sweet (but not suspiciously so) apple, transitioning quickly to tart apple. Some some oaky bitterness creeps in too. Texture is just a tad thin.
Finish: Apple skin and seeds. Fairly tannic. Ends very dry, almost like apple pulp that has had all the juice pressed out of it.
Overall: No bells or whistles, just well-made, unadulterated apple spirit aged in decent French oak casks that still had a bit of life left in them. This almost certainly had some water added to reduce the bottling proof, but I’m glad they didn’t take it all the way down to 80.
Spirit Type: Calvados
Proof: 84.2
Vintage: 1998
Age: 18
Cask Type: French Oak (Reused)
Rating: B