An
importer was kind enough to share some very interesting samples of
french and spanish ciders with me. It just so happened a week or so
after they arrived that a friend of mine said that he wanted to
learned to articulate his cider tasting experiences more comfortably.
I've rarely heard a better use for a Sunday afternoon, so he cooked
and I brought cider. I know his tastes to veer towards french and
spanish ciders far more than our local offerings, guiding my choices
to be three from my recent European samples.
I
chose three that I hoped would show real breadth in terms of tannins,
acidity, sweetness, and mouthfeel. These are some of the
characteristics that are reasonably approachable when it comes to
tasting cider and learning to talk about what we taste.
For
food pairings, we had a selection of cheeses with crackers followed
by super tasty fish tacos and ending up with a flourless chocolate
torte. You wish you could have been there. We had fun, learned
things, and laughed a bunch. I also got to meet an amazingly
interesting artist visiting from the pacific Northwest. And I've
always found cider to be a great thing to bring fabulously varied
people to the proverbial table.
Manoir
de Grandouet Cambremer Cidre de Tradition AOP Pays d’Auge (4.5%): http://www.manoir-de-grandouet.fr/
Official
description: “FLAVORS: This coppery yellow cider reveals aromas of
cooked fruit, dried herbs and leather. This semi-sweet cider is very
fruity, with a full mouth feeling of softness and very slight
bitterness”
Aromas:
applesauce, peas, juicy orange
This
smells of fruit quite pleasant and wild. We could smell apple, pear,
blueberry, orange juice, and applesauce. It smelled like an appealing
brunch spread!
Sweetness/ dryness: semi-sweet
A lovely fresh fruity semi-sweet. It is marked brut but because of the fermentation methods used, it will not taste brut to most drinkers of any other style of cider.
Flavors and drinking experience: green grapes, mellow, balanced, blueberries, fresh
Wow! What a well balanced and fruity cider. This style of cider isn't for everyone, but its so much fun. We had this one first with some brie which brought out its bitter notes, which I found tremendously appealing. Everyone liked the tiny champagne like bubbles. This had low acid and higher tannins, but it remained overall within balance for its style. I enjoyed it deeply.
Le
Brun: Brut Cidre du Bretagne: http://www.winesellersltd.com/wine-brand/Le%20Brun.html
Official
description: “FLAVORS: A crisp, well balanced apple cider. Acidic,
tart, and dry with a strong finish. Beautiful woody note in the
aftertaste.”
Aromas:
barnyard, vegetal, tannic, and funky
These
aromas offer up a lot of phenolic action. Some of those notes drew us
in, while others were more ambiguous, but the overall impression is
one of fermented rusticity and mellow cooked apple.
Sweetness
dryness: semi-dry
This
is a challenging cider, though its sweetness/dryness level is not the
most controversial aspect.
Flavors
and drinking experience: very fermented, fruity, low acid, vegetal,
funky
I
liked this one the most, after it sat open a while anyway. I found
this low-acid, high tannin cider very intriguing and divisive. I
liked it. My companions were more split in their opinions. I found
some of the characteristics reminiscent of what I like about english
ciders; its decidedly woody and appley in a fermented way.
Sidra
Asturiana Mayador: http://mayador.com/
Official
description: “This limited edition sparkling sidra is made of
Asturias apples. The aroma is moderate to light heavy apple, tart
apples, apple skin/peel and oaky scents. This sidra’s flavor is
moderate sweet and a light acidic with a long to average length for
the finish.” Interesting thing to note, this was fermented in chesnut barrels!
Aromas:
brine, grass, tropical fruit
This
smelled really interesting wildly not like pomme fruits. I found more
grass, pineapple, and brine in the aromas.
Sweetness/dryness:
semi-sweet
This
is a firm semi-sweet. It has plenty of sweetness to allow the fruit
flavors to come through, but the sweetness does not dominate the
experience.
Flavors
and drinking experience: acidic, floral, sparkling, tropical fruit
This
was my companion's favorite without any question. This tastes very
true to the flavor profile I associate with spanish ciders. Tartness
and acidity dominate. I enjoyed the herbal an grassy notes but found
the volatile acidity to be less in my wheelhouse. The cider changes
as it gets warmer, and I found it more mellow and pleasant after it
had been in an open glass for several minutes. The most interesting
phrase in my notebook about this one is, “a small army of flowers.”
What a great set of ciders to explore and discuss!