Made by: Les Celliers Associés cooperative

Made in: Pleudihen sur Rance, Brittany

Style: Dry

ABV: 4.5%

Carbonation: Lightly Sparkling

Bought: N/a

Price: N/a (750ml bottle)

Producer’s website: Val de Rance

This, sadly, is the last bottle of a haul brought back from France for me from a recent trip by my sister in law. The little mini tour of Brittany and Normandy that they afforded me has been a pleasure and I’ll be sad to see it end. But I’m sure she’ll be back over there soon and can bring me #batch2 so all is not lost.

After all the classic, traditional labels adorning the other bottles hauled back from Normandy and Brittany, this one is a bit of a mystery. It shows a woman battering a guy over the head with a rolling pin for reasons that are not immediately obviously. I went to university in France (25 years ago now) but I haven’t spent much time there since so my knowledge of French culture is sketchy to say the least these days. Which explains why I had no idea who or what Mam’ Goudig is. I did however recognise the production address on the bottle – Pleudihen sur Rance – as the home of the Celliers Associés co-operative and naturally wondered why cartoon domestic violence was the apparent theme of the label.

A quick Google and I discovered from a blog site that Mam’ Goudig is, apparently, “a Breton merchandising goldmine. A marvellous, fiercely patriotic and domineering animated character who seemingly spends much of her time recklessly driving a 2CV, scuba diving, surfboarding and hitting her husband over the head with a rolling pin.”

Mystery solved. Anyway, I still have no idea why she’s on the bottle. Money, I’m guessing.

TASTING NOTES, AFTER A FASHION:

The cider pours a deep, rich amber and looks rather fetching in my wee crystal glass.

On the nose it’s sweet and slightly woody with notes of sweet candy apple. A lot more approachable than the other night’s farmyardy effort from Le Brun.

There’s rich fruit balanced by a minerally acidity in the mouth with soft, lovely tannins. It’s sweet and rich with golden raising and apricot in there too, complete with that peculiarly pleasant furry fuzziness you get from apricots.

The finish is dry, fruity, rich and sustained. All in all a very tasty and easy to drink drop. A satisfying end to a virtual tour of northwest France.

3️⃣.5️⃣/5️⃣