Information About Calvados Is At The End Of This Page.

Daron Calvados Fine Pays D'Auge 375ml	$19.99

Let's face it: apple brandy isn't well-known in the United States. This is in spite of the fact that the United States is one of two major, sources, per F. Paul Pacult's "Kindred Spirits," of apple brandy in the form of applejack.

But the most important apple brandy is Calvados, from Normandy, west of Paris and bordering the Atlantic.

If the apple brandy per se isn't well-known here, Calvados certainly isn't. But Christian Drouin, president of Calvados Christian Drouin of Rouen, not far from Dieppe of World War II infamy, wants to change that.

To that end, he was in San Francisco earlier this year with Frederick Seggerman of Frederick BN. Seggerman Selections, Haddam, Conn., to attend this year's Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America meet in San Francisco. Preiss Imports of Ramona, Calif. handles Drouin's Coeur de Lion Calvados plus wines from New Zealand and other spirits brands.

Coeur de Lion is produced by Drouin in a facility dating to the early 17th century in the heart of the Pays d'Auge. The earliest mention of the estate was in 1638; Drouin took over operating the distillery in 1990. He also produces an aperitif, Pommeau de Normandie, a blend of Calvados and apple juice matured in oak for at least 18 months (per French law) and a La Pomme Prisonniere, a Calvados with an apple inside the bottle. And there is Calvados Domfrontais, a spirit made of pears and apples and aged in barrels at least three years.

The Coeur de Lion is double-distilled in a wood-fired pot still, then aged in used port and sherry barrels.

The Normans reportedly enjoyed a glass of Calvados about halfway through the meal to help digestion and to cleanse the palate for the remaining courses.

Drouin, at his visit to Wines & Vines, referred light-heartedly to having an "apple a day" when consuming Calvados.

Drouin said he aerates his product once each year and doesn't add caramel for coloring. In tasting a series of products, we found a 1977 from a sherry cask not a bit appley. A 1969 from a former port cask had wonderful fruit, and a 1970 from a mixture of sherry and port casks showed good, clean fruit, without a lot of apple character.

Drouin, by the way, should know a bit about Calvados: he's written or co-authored two books on the product, one on pommeau de Normandie and the other featuring 60 recipes with Calvados.