Calvados Lemorton 1972 Vintage, Domfront 40% 70cl

Description

Calvados Lemorton 1972 Vintage, at over 40 years old, is showing lots of class and finesse. A perfect birthday gift for anyone born in 1972.

The Lemorton family has a long history in Calvados, it is currently run by the sixth generation Didier Lemorton and his wife Martine who took over from his Didier’s father Roger. It was Roger’s father Isodore who founded the business. The distillery is located in Mantilly, near Domfront which gives its name to the Domfrontais region of Calvados.

The southern appellation of Calvados, Domfront (which was granted its AC in 1997) has clay and limestone soil much more suited pear trees than the northern part of Calvados, which is more suited to the shallow roots of apples trees. In Domfront it is mandatory that at least 30% of the cider / perry to be distilled into Calvados be produced from pears. This leads to a slightly lighter coloured spirit which is more delicate, elegant and feminine in style than those of the northern ACs (Pays D’Auge). The Lemorton farm comprises 9 hectares of orchards planted with over 40 varieties if apple and pear trees. The pears are gathered from tall standard pear trees which can reach 20 meters high. At Calvados Lemorton property the proportion of pear juice used to produce the Calvados is quite high at around 70%.

After the apple and pears have been crushed and the juice fermented into cider, at Lemorton they then age the cider for eleven months in oak barrels. After eleven months the cider is distilled in an alembic copper still, typical of the region, which produces a clear spirit at about 70% abv. The apple spirit, eaux-de-vie, is then aged in old oak barrels which have an average age of 30 years old.

Lemorton bottle some of their Calvados as vintage Calvados like this one and also produce some excellent younger and older, rare blends such as the Lemorton 15 Year old or the Lemorton Rarete.