2021 Eric Bordelet “Poire Granit” Normandy, France

Before making cider, Eric Bordelet was one of the best Sommeliers in France, working along Alain Passard in his 3 stars restaurant, l'Arpege. Inspired by the some of the greatest vignerons he met along the way, he decided to take over his family orchards in 1992, in Normandie. His focus was to make long-lived cider from organic fruits that could be served in some of the best restaurants around the world. It is very special to have such produce of high quality, the fruits are all manually harvested between September and December. Coarsely crushed and gently pressed with settling and racking of the juice. Fermentation using traditional and natural ‘methode ancestrale’ (using only the fruits natural sugars) in vats and bottled retaining the natural balance of sugar and acidity. These are naturally gently sparkling in order to retain the original quality of each fruit.  Why do we like it? It is incredibly delicious, the Poire Granit is our favourite in his range, it is made using 14 different varieties of pears from trees that are up to 300 years old. It is pure, refreshing and elegant, very gently off-dry. One of our favourite matches is a cheese plate, it just works perfectly well with all types of cheese from goat, washed rind, hard and blue cheese… It is indeed incredibly versatile. But you can simply have it on its own or with a pear tart, the quality of the bubbles and the precise fruit flavours will make you adopt it as your favourite cider!   Fruit             14 varieties of Pear Country        France                                  Region          Normandie                                       Vintage         2021