About this SPIRIT
Christian Drouin Calvados
The story of Drouin calvados began around 1960. There was nothing to indicate the Christian Drouin the elder, an industrialist from Rouen, was destined to make a career in spirits. Nothing, that is, apart from his taste for good food and good wines. When he bought a farm in Gonneville he decided to use the cider apple orchards to produce calvados. His aims were simple: produce a top-quality spirit, the best. "My father transmitted to me the calvados virus", says the younger Christian Drouin, who has today given the family business a world-wide reputation. The brand is now sold as far a field as the USA and Japan in more than 40 countries. The third generation is now hard at work. It maintains the traditions that have enabled the estate to become one of the 100 "sites of excellence in taste" selected by the ministry for culture. In 1995 the European foundation awarded the estate its European Prestige Grand Prix for the whole of its production, which represents the quintessence of calvados.
When is a wine ready to drink?
We provide drinking windows for all our wines. Alongside the drinking windows there is a bottle icon and a maturity stage. Bear in mind that the best time to drink a wine does also depend on your taste.
Not ready
These wines are very young. Whilst they're likely to have lots of intense flavours, their acidity or tannins may make them feel austere. Although it isn't "wrong" to drink these wines now, you are likely to miss out on a lot of complexity by not waiting for them to mature.
Ready - youthful
These wines are likely to have plenty of fruit flavours still and, for red wines, the tannins may well be quite noticeable. For those who prefer younger, fruitier wines, or if serving alongside a robust meal, these will be very enjoyable. If you choose to hold onto these wines, the fruit flavours will evolve into more savoury complexity.
Ready - at best
These wines are likely to have a beautiful balance of fruit, spice and savoury flavours. The acidity and tannins will have softened somewhat, and the wines will show plenty of complexity. For many, this is seen as the ideal time to drink and enjoy these wines. If you choose to hold onto these wines, they will become more savoury but not necessarily more complex.
Ready - mature
These wines are likely to have plenty of complexity, but the fruit flavours will have been almost completely replaced by savoury and spice notes. These wines may have a beautiful texture at this stage of maturity. There is lots to enjoy when drinking wines at this stage. Most of these wines will hold in this window for a few years, though at the very end of this drinking window, wines start to lose complexity and decline.
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Description
This gin is made just a hop, skip and a jump over the channel in Normandy and is enriched with botanicals that we are more familiar with seeing in our homes. The Drouhin’s main business is Calvados and their gin is concentrated around the flavours of Guillaume Drouin’s (Christian’s son’s) mother’s kitchen. Produced mainly for himself, the botanicals include apples, vanilla, cinnamon, rose and almonds, all of which contribute to the more traditional and homely taste that is integral to his identity and upbringing.
It’s exciting to drink this as a G&T, to experiment with possible garnishes. The fresh apple-led flavour also lends itself to a delicious Martini that is perfect for Calvados devotees.
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