Made by: Michel Bréavoine

Made in: Pont-l’Évêque, Normandy

Style: Dry

ABV: 5%

Carbonation: Lightly Sparkling

Bought: N/a

Price: N/a

Producer’s website: Cidrerie Michel Bréavoine

There are many benefits to having a sister-in-law who is half French, one of them being the fact that she hauls me back a boot full of cidres fermiers from trips to her family home in Brittany.

Like all French ciders, the one I’m trying tonight is 100% pur jus and carries the IGP (Indication Géographique Protegée) badge of honour.

Michel Bréavoine produces cider, Calvados and Pommeau (a mix of sweet cider – cidre doux – and Calvados) in Coudray-Rabut, just north of Pont l’Éveque, in the Calvados department of Normandy.

The cidery has one of the worst websites you’re ever likely to see, which might be a good thing suggesting perhaps that Michel has better things to do with his time than arse about making pretty websites, but it does include a nice little drone-shot video of the Domaine du Lieu Gosset where the cider is produced.

TASTING NOTES, AFTER A FASHION:

Get the cork out of the big traditional 750ml bottle and it pours the deep, rich, burnished gold with plenty of life to it, as you expect of Normandy ciders.

It’s yeasty up front on the nose followed by bags of delicious sweet candy apple fruitiness.

On the palate it’s more sweet candy apple with some pronounced caramelised notes. Not overly tannic, although the tannins are there, and very nicely poised acids that give it a thirst-quenching, come-back-for-more bite. It’s not massively dissimilar to the Christian Drouin I tasted last week but it has a bit more body to it and a bit less candy apple sweetness. Everything is just a tiny touch more balanced, to my taste anyway.

I like to imagine that the French purposefully make cider with enough depth and character to be savoured but also with enough approachability to make it easy to enjoy for most occasions. Functional, good quality, middle ground cider. And that’s by no means a criticism. It’s a cider made for an audience that knows its cider and drinks a lot of it. Job done Monsieur Bréavoine.

3️⃣.5️⃣/5️⃣