Calvados Review: Domaine Dupont 1980 Millesime Pays d’Auge

• Category: Calvados Pays d’Auge
• Origin: Domaine Dupont
• Bottling: Official
• ABV: 42%
• Cost: £127.94

What they say

The Famille Dupont estate:

Located in Pays d’Auge, a part of Normandy well known for the quality of its agricultural products, the Dupont Family estate consists of 30 hectares (74 acres) of orchards in Normandy, in the heart of the Pays d’Auge region. The estate produces ciders, pommeau and calvados.

The Orchards:

In order to reach perfect balance in its ciders and calvados, Domaine Dupont uses no less than 13 different varieties of cider apple, all perfectly adapted to the Pays d’Auge terroir. Terroir consists of nutrient poor clay and marl soil, perfect for giving small fruit.

The Making of Cider and Calvados:

Apples are only gathered when at full maturity. The apples are then washed and sorted just before being pressed. Fermentation starts in vats and continues slowly in the bottle to create the natural effervescence of cider.

Distillation and Aging of Calvados:

Apples are washed and sorted. All the Domaine Dupont calvados are created by the double distillation process. The aging in barrels can last up to forty years.

Calvados vintage 1980

was distilled in 1980 and aged in oak vat and in a toasted oak barrel. It was treated in such a way as to maximise its concentration and complexity.

Techniques used:
The apples are mixed, crushed and pressed. The apple juice is fermented right out to give cider to be distilled. Double distillation is carried out 6 months after the fermentation has taken place. The first distillation gives the “petite eau” at 30% by volume and it is the second distillation, that of the “petite eau” which gives the Calvados.

Aging: Since 1980, in oak vat and in a toasted 400 litre (88 imp gallon) oak barrel. Unfiltered and without being cold stabilized, it was treated in such a way as to maximise its concentration and complexity. Bottled to order.

Official tasting notes:

• Eyes: Colour golden orange .
• Nose: Gentle and subtle. Complex and well formed, citrus and apple.
• Mouth: Sweet and fruit forward. Aromas of citrus, cooked apple, dried fruits, toast.

What I say

This vintage was distilled in 1980 and this example was bottled in around 2016 making this Calvados Pays d’Auge around 36 Years Old.

Produced under the Pays d’Auge regulations

My tasting notes:

• Appearance: Bright ruby bronze (16/20), fine tears and fine legs
• Nose: Cherry fruits, kirsch-like with the spirit, tobacco leaf, Normandy brut apple cider, soft and floury russet variety apples, toffee apple, cinnamon spice, plum, walnut, candied or caramelised nuts, brown sugar and maple syrup.
• Taste: Light-medium bodied, sweet and crystalline, polished toffee, plum, cherry and pear fruits join red and russet apples, leather tannins and tobacco leaf, linseed oil, lacquered mahogany wood, clear and fruity initially, tannins develop with a hint of wood spices and herbality.
• Finish: Long, fruity with some oak tannins.

Overall

Clear and fruity with just a touch of aged oak wood flavours, this is mostly aged in large wooden tuns to keep the oak influence light, before a finishing period in toasted 400l casks delivering a balance usually found on younger Calvados but with the flavours of a much more mature one. Superbly constructed and hugely enjoyable.

Score 90/100

Shop for Domaine Dupont 1980 Millesime (opens Master of Malt)

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