Adrien Camut Calvados 6 Year

40% ABV

Adrien Camut is easily our favorite Calvados producer. A rare treat for the senses.

Importer Notes:
Calvados produced by seventh-generation distillers Jean-Michel, Emmanuel, and Jean-Gabriel Camut at Domaine de Semainville in Normandy, France.
Appellation Calvados Pays d’Auge Contrôlée.
Distilled from 100% apples grown in orchards planted in the hautes-tiges style; many of the apples are heritage varieties.
Cider is fermented in wood for 10–11 months.
Twice distilled on copper pot stills fueled by wood.
Aged a minimum of 6 years.
Reduced with rainwater and aged in large vats and tonneaux made primarily of Limousin oak and filled no higher than 75% full to promote oxidation; no new wood is used.
A nose of papaya, milk chocolate and vanilla wafer, apple soda, and mushroom leads to a textural palate of plum, dried apricots, date, and butterscotch with subtle rancio and pleasant acidity. A finish of cinnamon and fuzzy green herbs gently ends a ride you’ll want to take again and again.

About Calvados Adrien Camut:
Since the 1800s, the Camut family has grown apple trees in the Pays d’Auge, the finest growing region for Calvados. In Normandy, 800 types of apples are grown; the Camut family grow about twenty-five of these, favoring historical varieties endemic to the area that produce richer, less volatile spirits than are commonly found in the region. The apples are hand-harvested at optimum maturity between October and mid-December on the forty-five-hectare estate, which is planted with hautes-tiges orchards (tall trees from standard rootstock planted wide apart) that are fertilized and aerated by Limousin cows. While pears are allowed in Calvados production in the Pays d’Auge, only apples grown on the Camut property are used in Camut Calvados, and nothing is reserved for cider production.

After crushing and pressing, the juice undergoes long fermentation, resting in oak barrels for 10–11 months. In September, the cider is double-distilled on the property’s two wood-fueled copper pot stills (one of which is seventy-five years old) and proofed with rainwater. Large vats and tonneaux are filled no higher than seventy-five percent to speed evaporation and remove volatile components from the young brandy. No new barrels are used; most originated in Limousin and are an average fifty years old. During its first few years of aging, Camut Calvados is frequently transferred between vessels to promote oxidation. Even older brandy is exposed to air at least once a year to allow for a constant exchange of oxygen, gradual reduction, and concentration of the brandy; more brandy is lost to evaporation than this coveted estate bottles each year. The blends are as natural as possible; time alone has mellowed these rich, lush spirits.