Cider: what it is, fermentation and history

Cider is made by fermenting the juice of cider apples — varieties more bitter and aromatic than dessert apples. It usually runs from 2 to 5% alcohol. Brut is dry, doux is sweeter, rosé comes from red apples and poiré from pears.

The apples are milled and pressed into must. Wild yeasts on the fruit turn the sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide — that gives cider its fine bubbles. Fermentation is slow and cool. In the traditional method the cider finishes fermenting in the bottle, gaining its sparkle naturally, with no added gas.

Fermented apple drink has been at home in north-west France for centuries. In Normandy and Brittany cider became part of the landscape and the identity — orchards of cider apples, a seasonal pressing, a bottle on every table. The Sorre family cidery has made cider by traditional methods since 1952; it is their cider you will find in your glass with us.