Michel Huard 1994 40%
Vintage Apple
AOC calvados rusticity isn’t the easiest thing to taste. I’ve tried some nice Pays d’Auge before, but it’s quite different, mainly because it’s double-distilled. This one comes from Michel Huard, a 15-hectare estate located near Flers. 1994. 29yo. 40%. Let’s go!
Colour: Dark amber, gold lights. Medium regular tears.
Nose: Full of fresh pears and apples, with the specific freshness of tinned pears. Hints of cardamom and Sichuan pepper. Hints of vanilla notes too. Noble spiced scents. Almost no rustic sides in this delicate nose. A tad of exotic notes in the background.
Palate: Extra-oily texture. Delicious cooked apple notes melted with gingerbread aromas. Hints of freshness on peppermint. Lingering sugary/oxidate notes with ample nutty notes, reminding me of some white colheita port. Wet undergrowth and humid cellar notes. Something that I would call a rustic rancio.
Last Notes: Still an ample fruitiness on apricot eau-de-vie and peach liquor. Nice nutty notes again, this time on marzipan and almond paste. Obvious oak influence but it remains ok. A great amount of warm spices too, especially on safran and caraway. Back on the palate, you get liquid apple tart counterbalanced by freshness on licorice stick aromas.
A little discrepancy between the nose delicacy and palate rustic notes, but that’s a really nice kind of Calvados. You find a balance you can’t get with many calvados, especially AOC calvados. Hats off Jean-François!
My very subjective note: 88/100
Thanks Luke!
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