Calvados Pacory Reserve, 54% abv ($40)
The aroma on this is huge. Just popping the bottle fills the air with fruit. It's got a powerful apple/pear nose with a bit of sourness on it, much like a good cider. The palate is much drier than you would expect from the nose. It opens with wood and a slight bitterness, yielding to some medicinal notes and then a touch of sweetness with some acid at the end, all of which comes together very well. The finish is long lasting and brings back the pure fruit of the nose.
This is a really nice brandy. The fruit on the nose is balanced nicely by the wood on the palate. It tastes very mature for a five year old spirit, and it drinks very easily for its proof (and cask strength Calvados is pretty tough to find). It's good stuff, very drinkable and a great deal at $40.
It seems to have aged two years in the process of being reviewed...
ReplyDeleteNow please review their Domaine Hubert.
Ha, if it's mature for a 7 yo, it's even more mature than a five year old. Hubert is on my list, along with many other Calvados that I plan to review this year.
ReplyDeleteIs it imported by Charles Neal Selections?
ReplyDeleteAlso note that by law "Réserve" only needs be 3 years old (Charles Neal's "Calvados", p48). If it's at least 4 years old it can be graded as VSOP or "Vieille Réserve". So I would take K&L's claim to age with the usual large dose of salt.
ReplyDeleteFlorin, yes it's a Charles Neal import. I spoke to K&L and they assured me that it is 5 years old, distilled 2011. Apparently, they used existing, available labels rather than create a new one to get it done more quickly. And of course, the French age designations are minimums so it can still be labeled a Reserve but be older.
ReplyDeleteHearsay, your honor!
ReplyDeleteI don't mean to be glib but just three days ago I asked DOG about the disappearance of the vintage year on Domaine Hubert calvados and he gave the same reason: small family business, big order, in a hurry, no labels. It's a cute story, but if I hear it one more time I'll start thinking that these French are trying to pull a fast one on our Davids.
ReplyDeleteThis label business is funny. If you believe the marketing spiel on their site this was bottled specially at cask strength for K&L.
ReplyDelete""Would you be open to bottling these at cask strength?" we asked him, wondering if our cocktail-mixing customers might be interested in something a bit more robust. "Bien sur!" he replied.
Assuming they put the abv on the label that would imply that the label was specifically made for this release. If that's true then why wouldn't they be able to note the age/category on the label as well? Or is it the case that the cask strength bottling is not done something specially for K&L? If so, then why should we believe the other story either?
A little late to the game, but my bottle of this from K&L has a 5 year age statement on the back label.
ReplyDelete