Vintage Calvados Apples & Other Fruit and other Eaux-de-Vie & Fruit Brandies
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There are many different types of fruit brandies, and exact definitions are sometimes unclear.
Eau-de-vie, a French phrase that means literally "water of life", generally refers to a distillation of any fruit other
than the grape, that has an alcohol content of around 100% proof. The spirit is often colourless, since it is either
bottled immediately after distillation, or stored in glass-lined casks or earthenware containers. This method of
storage retains the intense fruit flavour and maintains the high alcohol content.
The famous apple brandy from Normandy, calvados, is distilled from good quality apple cider fermented for a
minimum of one month (by which time all the sugar has gone) and then aged in cask, sometimes for as long as
20 or 40 years.
Other well known fruit brandies and eaux-de-vie are kirsch or kirschwasser, made from cherries, Poire William
made from pears, Slivovitz from plums, framboise from raspberries and fraise from strawberries.


Vieux Calvados
Du Pays D'Auge 1921
A very rare early Calvados
from the 1921 vintage,
probably bottled in the
late 1950's or early
1960's. Perfect seal,
perfect level, perfect
labels.
Click on thumbnails to
see enlarged images.
SOLD
A circa 1910 Guillot
Kirschwasser, with a superbly
intense ripe cherry nose.
Decanted into sample bottles..
Click on the thumbnails to see
larger images.
SOLD
A very rare bottle of Justerini &
Brooks Peach Brandy, circa 1890.
An amazing spirit, with an intense
ripe peach aroma that filled the
room the instant the bottle was
opened.
SOLD
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The second oldest
recorded Calvados
vintage still surviving - two
magnificent bottles of
Huet 1865.
Old calvados is a very
special taste, and pre-war
bottles are much harder to
find than equivalently old
cognac or armagnac.
Click on the thumbnail to
see an enlarged image.
SOLD
Roger Groult Calvados Reserve
Ancestrale Vintage 1864
Roger Groult Calvados Reserve
Ancestrale Vintage 1865
Roger Groult Calvados Reserve de
Mon Grand Pere Vintage 1893
ALL SOLD.
Roger Grout Reserve Ancestrale Vintage 1879
Groult is one of the finest producers, and together with Huet, one of only a handful whose 19th century stocks
survived into the modern era. The above vintages were released in minute quantities many years ago, and are
long since depleted (they still produce a Reserve Ancestrale and a Reserve de Mon Grand Pere, but not vintage
dated and made from later 20th century Calvados).
Extremely rare - only 250 bottles of this
1879 Calvados were produced.
Click on the images to see enlarged versions.
SOLD
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Calvados Vieux Pere Magloire 1886
A very rare early bottle from one of the largest and most important Calvados
producers.
Click on the images to see enlarged
versions.
SOLD