Exceptional Perry, made from 17 varieties of Pears, biodynamically farmed, manually harvested and sorted. The trees that produce the pears for Poire Granit are estimated to be at least 300 years old, producing fruits that are tiny but have concentrated flavour and character.
This is delicate, crisp and refreshing, its luscious pears are offset by a rich Champagne-like breadiness. Its creamy textured mousse rounds to a lovely dry finish. And the balance of acid to sugar is masterful.
'Eric Bordelet produces some of the finest French ciders. The most complex of his wines is his wonderful Poiré Granit. It exhibits an enthralling nose of pure, refined pear and spice aromas. On the palate, it has exceptional length, balance and definition. Light to medium-bodied, this pear cider has the depth, complexity and length of a top-flight wine.'
CHÂTEAU DE HAUTEVILLE, Eric Bordelet - Charchigné, South Normandy - Biodynamic.
It was Didier Dagueneau who convinced Eric Bordelet, former sommelier at Paris’s three Michelin star Arpège restaurant, to develop a new, artisan style of cider, a natural product of character and thirst-quenching ability, which would also work with a wide range of different food. And so Eric refurbished his family’s ancestral orchards and ciderworks and would use his knowledge of viticulture to push for the highest level of quality.
The biodynamically farmed orchards – covering roughly 15 hectares – are situated in southern Normandy. The land is composed of schists and sedimentary rocks dating back to the pre-Cambrian period three million years ago. The granite and broken schists form a complex soil and sub-soil that provides the foundation for the terrain.
Eric grows 20 varieties of apples and 15 varieties of pear. Some of his pear trees are over 300 years old.
After the process of selecting, crushing, pressing and settling, the natural traditional fermentation takes place in vat or barrel and in bottle over weeks and months according to the amount of residual sugar in the respective cuvées and therefore without the addition of any sugar.
With an Ecocert certification for biodynamic farming and a scrupulous attention to detail Eric Bordelet makes wonderful natural products that are far removed from the denatured, gassy drinks that masquerade under the cider label. His classic ciders can age for five to seven years, with the Granit able to go to ten years to develop superb complexity of flavour. Bordelet says that the impression of sweetness improves with age, the same as with older wines.