The fruit of knowledge

Savoir-Faire

Since 1821, Calvados Père Magloire reflect our goal of producing high-quality Calvados and Calvados Pays d’Auge with a subtle balance between authencity and refinement.

N°1

Select the cider

N°2

Distillate

N°3

Age and blend

N°1

Select the cider

The story of our Calvados starts in the Pays d’Auge Norman orchards. A land gifted with all graces by Mother Nature, this region benefits from a temperate climate born of hot currents from the Gulf-Stream and oceanic winds. There the apple tree reigns supreme and one hundred different varieties thrive. They appreciate the regional clement climate and the local soils of silicious clay and sub-soils of limestone, draining and neither too wet nor too dry.

N°2

Distillate

In the heart of our distillery, copper stills slowly turn the cider into pure eau-de-vie.

An ancestral expertise

From November to March our master distiller gives birth to the eau-de-vie in our distillery of Sainte-Foy-de-Montgomery. His role is fundamental since in the following years the character of our calvados will depend on his judgement. At Père Magloire, knowledge and fabrication secrets are transmitted from generation to generation of distillers. Maison Père Magloire has mastered both single and double distillation. For single distillation, the cider is heated in column stills to turn it into vapors. These are then rapidly cooled to extract only the hearts. This process gives the eau-de-vie the intense and powerful taste born from its origin: the apple. For the double distillation, the distilled cider is fermented longer than cider used in single distillation. It is then heated in traditional pot stills and then distilled twice. The Calvados we obtain by this process has a characteristic rich and wide aromatic complexity and a nice palate length. Mastering the distillation is a key process giving Père Magloire calvados their defining fruitiness.

N°3

Age and blend

A word of wisdom: ‘It is good to know when to take your time’.

An exceptional calvados, born from the passion of men, and time. Last step of the traditional process, the ageing in oak barrels requires expertise, care and patience. Our cellar master, grand master alchemist, fine tunes the colour, the complexity and the roundness of the calvados. He anticipates the intimate and durable interactions between air, oak and eau-de-vie. Our calvados are aged in new oak barrels to give them more vanilla-like aromas and in older barrels for a longer ageing during which they become more intense and more complex and obtain a great aromatic richness. Always searching for innovations, we have been the first (and as of today the only ones) to add Norman oak barrels to our ageing process.

Year after year, our cellar master perpetuates the emblematic cuvées of Père Magloire.

Our cellar master

Jean-Luc Fossey

Our Cellar Master Jean-Luc Fossey develops a perennial and qualitative approach by developing the aromatic finesse and complexity of the calvados ensuring the future of the brand.

“I have inherited from my predecessors many casks full of venerable vintages and with them a whole legacy, and it is now my role to make it bear its fruits. We usually say it is all about finding the right balance between the hearts of distillation and the heart of the oak, about blending the aromas of apple and those of the wood from oaks of the French forests.”

We must first and foremost take into account time and space, without forgetting the hygrometry level. The ageing of calvados won’t go at the same pace in a wet or a dry cellar, in a small or big cask, also depending on how full a foudre is or how old it is. Here we favour French oak with a looser texture and a big grain for an optimal exchange with the surrounding air.

Question

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
CALVADOS AND
CALVADOS PAYS D'AUGE?

1. A geographical difference

Two distinct zones both benefiting from an oceanic climate with a low amplitude of temperatures. Calvados Pays d’Auge is marked by hillside of clay and limestone.