2020 Julien Frémont Cidre Argile

REGION: Normandy, FR
SIZE: 750ml / ABV: 3.5%

"Julien makes two special ciders from different terroirs. This one is made from apples picked from trees that grow in clay soils on the lower slopes near the road that runs in front of the house. Here the clay is quite deep and is packed with minerality leading to very healthy trees due to the good drainage.

As with the silex above, this cider reflects the minerality of the soils – it is a true “cider of terroir” because there are no additions whatsoever. Once the apples have spent some time in the attic to concentrate the flavours, they are crushed and the juice is transferred to large vats to ferment spontaneously. This year it has a delightful hint of sweetness without being overtly sweet. It also has a tiny tang of refreshing bitterness at the end of the palate." - Living Wines

Julien Frémont is a cider and Calvados maker from Normandy who makes cider the same way that his family has made it since the early 1700s – and using the same beautiful wooden press that the family has owned since that time. The only differences between the old way and Julien’s way is that he prefers dry cider and the traditional approach was to make sweet cider in this region. Julien tends his orchard using organic and biodynamic principles. Cows graze between the trees to keep the ground cover healthy.

After he hand-harvests the apples they are carried to the loft in the large, ancient building that dominates the farm using a ‘home grown’ pulley system of little buckets that carry them upwards. Here he ‘cures’ them for at least a month and sometimes for many months so that the flavours concentrate as the apples dry out. This dramatically reduces the juice yield when the apples are finally pressed but significantly improves the flavour of the cider. We find his ciders immensely satisfying and beautifully crafted and he uses no additions. No sulphites are added at any time. There are also some oxidative notes to his cider as the wooden barrels he uses are over 100 years old. This adds even more complexity to the finished product.