I am struggling to remember where I bought this cidre from. Sure it was near to Paris and almost certainly from a supermarket. I am not sure which one though (and my notes at the point of tasting fail to record it). Ah well, its a cidre made in Pont L'Eveque, Normandy - more famously known its cheese, but hopefully also for great cidre.
The French producers like little labels; appellation controllee, medaille d'or etc. etc. - this one is 'veritable cidre fermier'... I guess it's verified farmhouse cidre then... Its also 'pur jus'. Now that is a sign I like to see:-)
OK, bearing in mind that this blog is in English, I will not presume that anyone from France is bothering to read it... so reviewing cidre is more aimed at those visiting France. With that in mind, I have tracked down the producers website - http://www.breavoine.fr/. As with most producers in France, its not available in English (but then, pretty much all cider producers in the UK don't bother with anything but English, so it ought not be surprising!). Looking at this, if you are around Pont L'Eveque, I would recommend a visit to them: the produce Calvados, Pommeau and Poire as well as Cidre. I suspect you will have more of a memorable experience than simply pulling off the shelf in a supermarket!
On pouring, I noticed that there is a chunk of yeast thrown up by the high fizz, so its naturally made and conditioned in bottle. Good start. It is also golden and clear. It builds a nice head in the glass too - lots of small bubbles!
Once again, it has that Normandy fruity smell that is soft and juicy. Very similar to the other Normandy cidre I have just tried. However, in the taste the tannins are more pronounced that the others so far which gives this much more body and charisma. Its a bit of a shame that overall it has a very gentle and subtle taste... not weak particularly but a touch safe. That might be a little unfair, but once again I do come back to the restrictions that are placed on cidre producing regions. Normandy cidres seem to be fairly consistent in their profile - much more so than in the UK.
On the acid side of things, its light but fruity and gentle. It seems to be overshadowed a little by the tannin, although its pleasant for it.
The aftertaste is pretty long and fruity (and, surprisingly, still fizzy!)
Overall, this is a good cider with some nice characteristics about it. OK, perhaps I am a bit critical and would like to see something that makes it a bit more individual. But this went down just fine and I would be happy to have another bottle. A bronze apple from cidrepages to go with a score of 72/100.
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