Normandy

Normandy is a region in the north-west of France, overlooking the English Channel. A region that is certainly not famous for quality wine considering also the difficulties to grow the vine at these latitudes. But Normandy is distinguished by the production of two excellent products made with apples, since there are over 200 apple varieties in this area, divided into sour, sour-bitter, sweet-loving and sweet, depending on their level of sweetness, acidity and bitterness. The first of the two products is the Cider, which is obtained from the alcoholic fermentation of the fruits of apples and sometimes pears, but for connoisseurs the best cider is that obtained from quince. The other product is Calvados which is the cider distillate. The apples are squeezed to get a juice that when fermented becomes a dry cider with 6% volume in alcohol. The cider is distilled in discontinuous or column alembics and becomes aqua vitae. After at least two years of aging in oak barrels (called foudres), it can be sold as Calvados. In Normandy calvados is the base of the Normand trou, or the "Norman hole", it is the custom to drink a sip of calvados between one course and another of a long meal, in the hope that it will awaken the appetite