Everyday Drinking: Is Calvados Finally...Sexy?

I've been telling you about my favorite apple brandy for years. Maybe during our Brat Summer you'll finally embrace it. Plus: 15 bottle recommendations!

JASON WILSON

JUN 27, 2024

About a decade ago, a research study was published suggesting that apple consumption improved women’s sex lives. Researchers divided study subjects (more than 700 Italian women aged 18 to 43) into two groups: Those who ate apples on a daily basis and those who averaged less than one apple per day. The daily apple eaters scored much higher on the Female Sexual Function Index, which measures factors including desire, arousal, and satisfaction. According to the study, there’s evidence that apple consumption could be “related to better sexual quality of life.”

I mention this study today because, for more than a decade, I have attempted to convince more people to try Calvados, the exquisite apple brandy from Normandy—with rather limited success. I first tried, in the late aughts, in the Washington Post (twice actually). In the mid-2010s, I made my pitch at Tales of the Cocktail. In 2018, I tried to elevate Calvados with my critical eye at a highbrow wine magazine. I even put in a good word for it in my 2019 book, The Cider Revival. Of course, I’ve held forth extensively on Calvados here at Everyday Drinking.

So far, if I’m being totally honest, none of it has really moved the needle for my beloved apple spirit. Everyone loves Calvados when I pour it for them, but in general, it still remains out of the mainstream.

Sex, on the other hand, sells. And so, I begin my annual pitch for Calvados by highlighting the scientifically studied apple-sex correlation. To wit, a bottle of Calvados is made from about 15 pounds of apples. I’m not saying you’ll want to rethink your date-night drink of choice. I’m simply confident that my readers are people who believe in science.

In any case, now would be a perfect time to dive into Calvados, especially at the top end. There’s honestly never been a more exciting time to be a fan of apple brandy from Normandy. Recently, the Interprofession de Appellations Cidricole (IDAC) launched an expensive “Drink Calvados” marketing campaign with an early aughts indie sleaze vibe that might fit with the hot, trashy Brat Summer aesthetic we’re now experiencing.

Over the past few months, I have tasted a string of very exciting Calvados expressions from benchmark producers such as Roger Groult (18-year-old single cask), Christian Drouin (17 year-old, finished in Caroni rhum barrel) and Domaine du Coquerel (24 year-old-single cask).

But perhaps the most-awaited new bottles come from a collaboration between French spirits expert Alexandre Vingtier and importer PM Spirits. Vingtier selected three exceptional Calvados casks, a 12-year-old from Domaine Olivier, a 26-year-old from Domaine du Coquerel, and a 45-year-old from Cave Normande.

Vingtier is publisher of French rum magazine, Rumporter, and he writes for La Revue du vin de France, the leading French wine magazine. On my last trip to Cognac this winter, Vingtier and I spent an evening at his home, tasting through more than 30 brandy samples, including a dozen Calvados cask selections—a preview of what’s to come in the near future.

Born in Normandy, Vingtier insists that his native brandy ticks all the boxes that contemporary spirits geeks desire. “It's a very unique spirit,” he says. “It’s mostly sourced from small farms and distilleries, with little to no artificial fertilizers, the fruit of a very well balanced ecosystem with cow and horses living next to the trees. It's kind of the French mezcal, as some production is commercial but still a lot is family-produced for personal consumption.”

He’s convinced that Calvados is ready to be discovered by a worldwide audience. “Think mezcal in the 1990s,” says Vingtier. “Most of Calvados is not released internationally. Most small producers sell directly to consumers on their farm. So many terroirs and expressions have almost never been released. Especially single casks and cask-strength. Have even a hundred Calvados ever been bottled as single cask or cask-strength so far? I doubt it.”

Clockwise from left: Alexandre Vingtier; PM Spirits Collab Calvados; Domaine du Coquerel; Still at Cave Normande; Domaine Olivier; In the orchard; Pears at Cave Normande.

Palazzi of PM Spirits is a veteran of trying to sell expensive French brandy to Americans. But he sees something special in Calvados. “To me, Calvados is the last frontier of French brandy, as close as it gets to pure expression,” he says. “It talks to your ‘soul.’ It is not made to please anyone, it is not made to hit specific notes. It hasn't been altered by the large brands or conglomerates.”

Now is the time to jump on the Calvados bandwagon. Below are notes on nine top expressions, followed by a half-dozen value selections that are great introductions to the spirit.

Calvados Is Calling

PM Spirits Collab - Alexandre Vingtier Selections 12 year Calvados ($155)

Single cask distilled and aged at Domaine Olivier, a top producer in Domfrontais, known for its pear ciders and pear-based brandies. This 50/50 blend of apples and pears come from 30-year-old organic apple orchards and pear trees more then 200 years old. Aged 12 years in French barrique, and it delivers incredible complexity at such a young age. Dark amber, aromas of gingerbread, pineapple pastry, dark chocolate, molasses, and flavors of tropical fruit, membrillo, maple syrup, pepper, licorice, with a long nutty, balsamic, and kirsch-like finish. (47.9% abv)

PM Spirits Collab - Alexandre Vingtier Selections 26 year Calvados ($230)

Single cask distilled at Domaine du Coquerel from 95% apples and 5% pears from an orchard with 50-year-old trees. Complex nose of burnt orange peel, grilled apple, tobacco, hay, roasted nuts, with rich rancio notes throughout. On the palate it’s bold and fiery (bottled at 57.1% abv, super high for Calvados). Balanced by nuttiness and spice, as well dessert notes of tarte tatin, dates, and crème caramel, with unique, floral finish that lingers and lingers. Very distinct spirit that belies Calvados’ rustic roots.

PM Spirits Collab - Alexandre Vingtier Selections 45 year Calvados ($500)

Remarkably rare single-cask distilled at Cave Normande, made from a 50/50 blend of apple (15 varieties) and pears (12 varieties) from an orchard with trees ranging from 20 to 200 years. Nut brown in color, redolent of rancio: by turns sherry-like, rum-like, with beautiful aromas of antique furniture varnish, candied orange, and black tea. On the palate, there’s honeyed and dried fruit notes—fig, membrillo—spices and chocolate, and miles-long finish of grilled apple, almond paste, and cigar smoke. Imagine a Calvados with hair on its chest, wearing gold chain, and possibly driving a Corvette.

Roger Groult 18 Year Old ($100)

Show me an 18-year-old spirit, in any category, that offers better value than this. Expressive nose, at first full of carmelized apple, then candied citrus, then finally crisp apple peel, herbs, and autumn leaves. Silky and expansive in the mouth, balanced by juicy freshness, baking spice, and mouthwatering acidity at the midpalate. The long, earthy finish is a savory swirl of russeted apple skin, fruit leather, espresso, and wet stone that’s unique for a brandy of this age. (41% abv)

“Value” Picks Under $100

Everyone defines value differently. With prices continuing to rise, these days $60 is as low as I would go for quality Calvados—one that I would enjoy neat rather than use in a cocktail. Is $60 to $90 a value? I guess it all depends on your definition. When I look at categories like tequila, mezcal, rum, or whiskey, I’d say it’s comparable. Remember: An $80 bottle of spirits contains a little more than a dozen two-ounces pours. That’s roughly $6.67 per pour. How does that compare to what you pay for a middling spirit at your local bar?

Roger Groult 8 Year Old, Pays d’Auge, $80

This 8-year-old bottling is a reminder that Calvados doesn’t always need decades of aging. Intense nose, with baked apple, mulled spice, and sandalwood. But in the mouth it’s fresh and juicy, with ripe and crisp apple notes, and a creaminess at the midpalate. Notes of cardamom, cinnamon, and peppercorn throughout that slides into a long finish. Always a good, value introduction to Calvados. (41% abv)

94 POINTS Navazos Palazzi Pedro Ximenez Single Cask Brandy

This is a brandy de Jerez aged in oloroso casks, then finished three years in very old sweet Pedro Ximenez casks. The end result is an extraordinarily complex sipper that almost reads like a cocktail. The deep brown hue and bold dried fig aromas signal richness. While the first sips mingle toffee, maple, dried fruit, the finish is surprisingly dry and brisk, showing walnut skin, a hint of grapefruit peel, and cinnamon and cayenne glow. Bottled at cask strength, plan to add water or ice to mellow the appropriately fiery edge. Limited edition: 720 bottles produced. - KARA NEWMAN 

The Ultimate Guide to Aperitifs

From bittersweet to botanical, there’s an appetite-stimulating aperitif out there for everyone in this growing category

by Tyler Zielinski Mar 10, 2022, 10:04am ESTPhotography by Michelle Min

HumansHumans are creatures of habit, and that’s especially true when it comes to our drinking rituals. We drink coffee for its ability to wake us up, herbal tea for relaxation, and wine to pair with food. But to stimulate the appetite before a meal, there’s one drink category most Americans tend to forget about: the aperitif.

The aperitif — a word derived from the Latin verb “aperire,” meaning “to open” — is a category of low-ABV beverages defined by when they’re consumed rather than how they’re produced. An aperitif can be a liqueur, fortified or aromatized wine (e.g., sherry or vermouth, respectively), or an aperitivo bitter (e.g., Aperol or Campari), making the category diverse and approachable for both bon vivants and novice drinks alike.

While the mindful and ritualistic consumption of aperitifs is slowly catching on in the U.S., in Europe, especially Italy, France, and Spain, aperitifs have been at the center of late afternoon and evening drinking rituals for decades — and, in some cases, centuries.

In Italy, aperitifs are consumed during the pre-dinner aperitivo hour — a time when family and friends gather to enjoy low-ABV tipples along with small bites (cicchetti, in Italian) to unwind from the day. In France, they practice apéro (short for apéritif) with French tipples such as pastis and Pineau des Charentes. And in Spain, sherries and vermut (vermouth) whet the appetite during “el aperitivo,” with new vermuterias, or vermouth bars, experiencing a renaissance among millennial drinkers.

Although a culturally ingrained drinking occasion such as aperitivo hour has not yet gained a permanent foothold in the U.S., interest in low/no-ABV drinks is expanding. The segment grew by 30 percent in 2020, and became a nearly $10 billion industry in 2021. As a result, the Aperol spritz has become as ubiquitous as the vodka soda in most major cities around the country; new sober bars and bars that strictly serve low-ABV aperitif-style cocktails are popping up; and a new wave of aperitifs is flooding the market at an unprecedented pace.

To kickstart your personal aperitivo hour practice, I’ve scoured the world of aperitifs to put together a list of some of the hottest bottlings from both domestic and international producers, broken down by flavor characteristics. Whether you’re a hardcore spritzer looking for an alternative to Aperol, a G&T lover open to trying a low-ABV botanical spirit to replace the gin, or a bon vivant who is just looking for the next hot low-ABV product, there’s a must-try aperitif for everyone.

PM Spirits Oloroso Sherry 2021

PM Spirits is one of the most exciting U.S. importers and distributors of geeky spirits. The brand’s Project Sherries came to be after Nicolas Palazzi, owner of PM Spirits, and Eduardo Ojeda, co-owner of cult sherry bottlers Equipo Navazos and senior advisor to famed sherry producer Grupo Estévez, collaborated to release some of the finest sherries that Jerez has to offer.

The Oloroso sherry is aged for an average of 19 years, and is full-bodied and structured with notes of toasted hazelnuts, sesame seeds and walnuts, brown butter, leather, toffee, candied orange peel, and cinnamon. The flavor profile is balanced with a delicate acidity and salinity that makes it perfect for contemplative sipping. While it would also shine in a simple sherry cocktail such as a highball or Sherry Cobbler, at its price point, you’ll want to be sure your bartending skills are quite sharp.

Tximista Vermouth

As far as vermouths go, the Basque-produced Tximista is truly one of a kind. It’s the world’s first and only vermouth made with 100 percent Getariako Txakolina wine from sustainably farmed hondarrabi zuri grapes. The brand has two styles, rojo and blanco, both aromatized with local herbs, roots, and botanicals. The high-acid, mineral-driven Txakoli base makes these vermouths incredibly drinkable while also standing up beautifully in a vermouth and tonic or martini. The product made its debut in Spain in 2018, and it’s currently only available in New York, California, and Florida, with more states being added for distribution in the near future.

Wine & Spirits Magazine 90 Points, PM Spirits - Palo Cortado

90pts | PM Spirits

Jerez-Xérès-Sherry Palo Cortado Saca de Junio de 2021

Nicolas Palazzi and the team at PM Spirits worked with Eduardo Ojeda– chief winemaker at Valdespino and a co-owner of Equipo Navazos—to blend their own propriety brand of Sherries. This one is a selection from several criaderas, the wines an average age of 15 years. It still holds a brisk, salty memory of its time as a Fino, even as the flavors broaden out into saturated richness of barrel age. Serve it with bolitas de bacalao.

—J.G.   PM Spirits, Wilmington, DE

Navazos Palazzi Malt Whiskey Cask Strength [Palo Cortado Single Cask] Review

The Whiskey Tribe review of Navazos Palazzi Malt Whiskey (Palo Cortado). Spanish malt finished in a unique and rare style of Sherry cask.

Sherry’s Indie Moment

A growing number of independent bottlers is aiming to showcase a more nuanced, variable side to fino, manzanilla and more.

There’s no single origin point for the modern sherry renaissance, but the aged cask of amontillado that Eduardo Ojeda and Jesús Barquín of Equipo Navazos bottled in December 2005 would be a solid place to start.

Like so many examples of its kind, the wine had been forgotten for decades in a dusty bodega, where it would have continued to slumber if not for the private club of investors, organized by Ojeda and Barquín, who pooled together the funds to rescue it from oblivion. Titled “La Bota de Amontillado” (after the Edgar Allen Poe story) and shared exclusively among club members, that initial release gave birth to a series of chronologically numbered editions. Hype quickly followed, and in April 2007 the project released its first commercial effort: La Bota de Palo Cortado No. 6.

It may come as a surprise that one of the driving forces behind the current sherry revival basically started off as a Kickstarter campaign. But according to Peter Liem, sherry expert and co-author (along with Barquín) of Sherry, Manzanilla & Montilla: A Guide to the Traditional Wines of Andalucía, few were interested in purchasing, let alone marketing, these wines. “The only reason that all these old wines still existed is that nobody wanted them,” he explains, citing the economic collapse and fall from relevance that decimated the sherry industry toward the end of the 20th century.

More than 100 “Botas” later (as of 2022, the library consists of 107), the project has redefined sherry for many U.S. drinkers. As Liem puts it, “They opened our eyes to the fact that something completely different existed in this region, which nobody was talking about.” That alone would have been enough to secure Equipo Navazos’ lasting place in the zeitgeist. But in recent years, their success has paved the way for a new set of independent bottlers who are following a similar playbook, sourcing minuscule quantities of wine from bodegas across the Sherry Triangle.

Some are Jerez natives, such as Antonio Barbadillo Mateos of the Sacristía AB project, and Ramiro Ibáñez and Willy Pérez, the duo behind the resurrected M. Antonio de la Riva label. Others, including Nicolas Palazzi of PM Spirits and Buelan Compañía de Sacas’ Nick Africano, operate out of the United States. They are united not only in their rejection of sherry as a standardized, industrial wine, but also in their desire to carve out a more intimate model for the region.

…

For Nicolas Palazzi, owner of rare spirits distributor PM Spirits, the collection of sherries he released late last year signaled a case study in sherry’s diversity. Since 2012, Palazzi has partnered with Equipo Navazos to bottle a series of highly-coveted single-cask Spanish brandy, whisky and rum under their Navazos Palazzi label. Even as someone who makes his living importing small-batch spirits, Palazzi was struck by the enormous variation between barrels in a single sherry solera system. “When you’re sampling different casks of spirits, a lot of the time you will find some small differences, but if it’s the same run, put in the same type of cask and aged in the same place for the same amount of time, the stuff you get is going to be pretty similar,” he explains. “But with sherry, it’s mind-bending. You can taste four different casks of the same exact wine and they’re all vastly different.”

“I saw a gap in the market for serious wines from this region, since everyone thought of manzanilla as something cheap, relatively young and accessible.”

In a typical bottling process, the solera would absorb and assimilate the individual profiles of these casks, rounding out their wayward edges into a smooth and seamless whole. At the scale that Palazzi describes, however, the goal is to capture the unique personality of a single barrel, or the distinctions that exist from one barrel to the next. “It sounds like a cliché, but these casks are living things,” Palazzi says.

New bottlers like Palazzi have arrived in Jerez at an inflection point. For all the recent talk of a renaissance, sherry remains a niche category. And while the cult model adopted by Equipo Navazos and its descendants has ushered in a new era of critical appreciation for the region’s finest wines, that’s not enough to sustain an entire wine industry. The question on everyone’s minds, then, is: What’s next?

INDIE SHERRIES TO TRY

PM Spirits Amontillado

“Selected with the expert help of Eduardo Ojeda,” as its label proudly declares, the PM Spirits amontillado drinks noticeably brighter and fresher than many examples of the genre, happily embracing its inner fino with a pronounced flor character. Although the packaging doesn’t mention where it was sourced, Palazzi notes that the wine came from several casks belonging to a prominent bodega with roots in the late 19th century. Light amber in the glass, it’s energetic and lively, especially for the style—as close to easy-drinking as amontillado gets.