La Maison Ferré (Calvados and Pommeau) Village: Comblot Appellation: Calvados Grower: Gregoire Ferré Website: https://www.lamaisonferre.fr/ Downloadable PDF In 2009 Gregoire Ferré left his family farm and crossed the Huisne valley in the Perche region of Normandy to purchase his own 60-hectare farm. At the time, the farm had 20 hectares of apple and pear orchards, and 40 hectares of grains and pastureland. The previous owner produced calvados but not cider. Gregoire built upon the small stock of calvados and began producing cider in 2010. Today, Gregoire has approximately 40 hectares of apples with 30 different varieties and 10 hectares of pears. He produces apple juice, cider, Pommeau and Calvados from apples and Poiré from pears. Gregoire always farmed without chemicals and in 2021 the farm was certified organic. Link to Cider page: La Maison Ferré (Cider) Calvados XO "La Reserve de Pierre" The « XO » Calvados is a blend of vintages that are at least 10 years old. Gregoire ages each vintage of his Calvados separately and for his “XO” he blends together two or three vintages, typically blending 11,12, and 13-year-old barrels. He starts with a cider that is more bitter and less tart than his Brut Cider and encourages the cider to complete its malo-lactic fermentation. The cider is fermented completely dry. The cider is distilled the following spring in a single column still. It is then aged in oak barrels that are made from the wood of Perche’s local forests. The original cut of the wood is made in the Perche, and then the planks are sent off to a family cooper in the Cognac region. Gregoire uses primarily 400L barrels, and he likes to start the aging process for the first year or two with new and one-year old barrels. The calvados then moves into barrels that had previously been used for the Pommeau and finally the calvados finishes its maturation in older barrels. Pommeau de Normandie "d'Oscar" Gregoire’s Pommeau is produced by adding a one-year-old Calvados at 70% to some recently harvested and unfermented apple juice. The resulting 17% blend is put into 400L barrels and matured for 4 years, nearly three times the appellation mandate.