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Cider Digest #1920
Subject: Cider Digest #1920, 11 December 2014
From: cider-request@talisman.com
Cider Digest #1920 11 December 2014
Cider and Perry Discussion Forum
Contents:
Re: Cider Digest #1919, 6 December 2014 (Alan Yelvington)
Re: Cider Digest submission (John Bunker)
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Subject: Re: Cider Digest #1919, 6 December 2014
From: Alan Yelvington <alany@semparpac.org>
Date: Sat, 06 Dec 2014 13:57:31 -0500
As a follow-on, the filtered product was all
but devoid of flavor compared to the raw
fermented product. Apparently the activated
charcoal portion of the filter did its job
with zeal.
Shared for anyone considering this as an
option to a sterile filter process.
Doh!
Al
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Subject: Re: Cider Digest submission
From: John Bunker <john.p.bunker@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2014 06:20:25 -0500
A French cider trip report November 2014
by John Bunker and Cammy Watts
For two weeks this November we went on a cider tour of Brittany and
Normandy. We loved it. Here are a few tips if you think might like to
do the same.
Speak French? We both took French decades ago and took a refresher
course this fall at a local language school. We also learned cider/
orchard terminology. Some of the producers we visited spoke decent or
excellent English. Others - including some of the most fun - spoke
none. It?s really helpful if you speak at least some basics. We
nodded a lot and pointed and smiled.
Transportation? We rented a car. It would have been impossible to do
the trip without one. Getting out of Paris was a bit crazy, but the
driving in Normandy and Brittany was easy. We brought two excellent
road maps and no GPS. This was mostly fine but we got lost a couple
times locating hotels in bigger towns. When we go again, we?ll take
GPS.
Hotels and B+B?s. We made reservations in advance on line. Mostly we
were happy to have them set up. It made the trip way more easy.
Sightseeing? We mostly skipped the sightseeing and focused on
visiting cider makers. However, we did visit the D-day beaches, Mont
St. Michel, The Bayeux Tapestry and the menhirs in Carnac. All four
were amazing. We also spent the last day in Paris before our flight
home.
Time of year? We went when we could go. We were happy with the
choice of late November even though the weather was mostly in the
50's, overcast and sometimes rainy. With one or two exceptions, we
were always the only ones at each orchard. That was nice. The
tourists sites were practically empty as well. That was great.
Cell phone? We had one but could not make calls on it. We could use
it for Wi-Fi in hotels, etc. We did not have an international phone.
We did not call any of the cidermakers in advance and none of them
knew we were coming. This was mostly not a problem. We might have
missed a few opportunities, but we had some really wonderful encounters.
We relied heavily on Charles Neal?s excellent book ?Calvados? (Flame
Grape Press) for the Normandy part of our trip. It has a good
overview of the region as well as thumbnail sketches and addresses of
dozens of cider makers, most of whom also produce Calvados and
Pommeau. We also brought along a basic tourist guidebook that was
very helpful.
We focused the first few days on the Route du Cidre in Normandy. We
could have done most of the trip just along that route. It is a
beautiful area and the cider-makers vary from high-end to small
scale. Brittany also has a Route du Cidre in the Quimper area. We
visited several of the cider makers there as well. We found the
French ciders to be generally similar to west country English ciders
and quite different from Spanish ciders. We also found Normandy and
Brittany ciders to be different from one another. On the whole, we
loved the cider. It was also very inexpensive, usually less than
$5.00 a bottle. Although we could have easily spent our two weeks in
either location, we?re glad we went to both Normandy and Brittany.
Pears? We visited Domfront, in Normandy near Mont St. Michel.
Domfront has countless 100-300 year old pear trees and is famous for
its ?poire? (perry) and its pear/apple Calvados. If you like
magnificent old fruit trees and/or perry, include that area on your
trip.
Tasting and visiting. Most places have a tasting room. Some resemble
gift shops. Others are the kitchen table or a dark musty room in the
barn. Some producers were busy and our visits were short. Others
gave us tours for 2 hours or even longer.
Time of day considerations? Most everyone takes a two hour 12-2 lunch
break. This means most places are closed including tasting rooms,
etc. It?s best to plan your day from 9-12 and 2-6 or so. I suspect
we missed some great opportunities because we arrived at noon and no
one was around.
Bringing cider home? It?s not difficult to bring cider, pommeau and
Calvados home. We did. You just follow the regs.
If you?re thinking of a trip and would like to talk on the phone or
get some suggestions of our favorite cideries to visit, feel free to
send an email.
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End of Cider Digest #1920
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