NV Le Père Jules Pear Cider Brut, Normandy, France

ABOUT THIS CIDER:

After the harvest (happening around late October), apples are stocked in a dry and ventilated room for about 2 weeks. Le Père Jules uses a pneumatic press for a soft and controlled extraction. It takes approx. 2.5hours to press 4400 pounds. They extract only 65% of the global volume of apples to turn into apple juice. The juice density is about 1055 to 1065. Alcoholic fermentation starts naturally in a stainless still tank, and lasts 2 to 4 months. Two raking are done during this process, one in the middle of fermentation and a second one at the end. When alcoholic fermentation is over, they do a very light filtration and bottle the still cider. Bottles are layed down in the cellar and stay like this for 6 weeks. This operation is called “Prise de mousse“, which means the second fermentation takes place and the still cider become sparkling. When the second fermentation is over, bottles are stocked in a stand up position until their release. There is no pasteurization.

ABOUT THIS PRODUCER:

Le Père Jules is located in Pays d’Auge, the heart of the Normandy region. In 1919, Jules Desfrieches, just back from the First World War, pressed and sold his first bottle of cider. In 1949, Léon Desfrieches took over his father and renamed the Cidrerie...Le Père Jules. Léon's son, Thierry, joined the family business in 1976. Guillaume, his son, in 2002. Nowadays, Guillaume runs the cidrerie and manages the cidrification process. Le Père Jules works only with apples and pears from the estate. Out of 250 acres, 100 are planted with apple trees and 25 with pear trees. They follow organic principles and let their 100 cows go freely on the property, so they provide natural fertilizer. They produce an average of 100,000 bottles of cider a year.