Christian Drouin Reserve

Christian Drouin - Coeur De Lion

Origin

France

Type

Calvados

Barrel

Oak

Age

No Age Statement

Alcohol

40°

Value

50 points

About the product

Le Calvados Pays D'Auge - Réserve des Fiefs is one of the finest products made at Drouin. It is an ideal bottle for those who want to discover Calvados at a younger age, as it combines the wonderful aromas of cider apples with the roundness typical of the Pays D'Auge. The Réserve des Fiefs is an assemblage of different types of calvados aged at least three years. They were all distilled twice in copper alambics. The distillation technique is the so-called ‘distillation à repasse’ or interrupted distillation. As a result, the typical flavours of bittersweet cider apples give way to a harmonious balance between fruit aroma and spicy undertones. The calvados used for this assemblage mature in mostly used oak barrels.

To illustrate the quality of this calvados, we would like to refer to its recent election as Best Calvados in the World within its category at the 2023 World Drinks Awards, a silver medal at the 2022 International Spirit Challenge and a host of other awards at regional and international competitions since 2002. If you want to be introduced to calvados via an affordable but very high-quality bottle, then this Réserve des Fiefs is the perfect choice. Bottled at 40% ABV.

About the brand

When Christian Drouin (the father) acquired Fiefs Sainte-Anne on the Gonneville hills near Honfleur in 1960, he had no idea how big his surname would become in the world of Calvados. He planted apple trees on his land and soon the desire to produce calvados too grew. Christian was a bold and enterprising man, working for the first 20 years to refine his distillates of apple cider. The calvados produced in those years is aged in different types of barrels, which beforehand include sherry, port or calvados, and rest for years in the old farm buildings. Christian also acquires several lots of old calvados from other reputable makers. During this period, Drouin also wins his first medals at regional competitions and in Paris.

Son Christian joins his father in the business in 1969, but it is not until 1979 that it is decided that the stocks are large enough to enter the market. Immediately, an international approach is adopted and a focus on older and higher-quality calvados than had previously been the norm in the industry. This approach paid off and Calvados Drouin became a fixture in the better restaurants and hotels around the world. In 1991, production moved to another 18th-century farmhouse in Coudray-Rabut.

In 2004, the third generation emerges. Guillaume Drouin is an agronomic engineer and oenologist. He first took charge of the export side of the business for 5 years, before taking over first production and then general management. to this day, Guillaume and his father Christian still realise the assemblages of the current products together.