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AOC — PDO — Normandy
In a bocage countryside where late frosts laid down the law, the people of the Perche patiently chose apple trees that blossom late — drawing from them, centuries later, the youngest PDO (AOP) cider in France.
Cider-based drink from Normandy, PDO (AOP) since 2022.
The Perche, a hilly region straddling Orne, Eure-et-Loir and Sarthe, lies at the meeting point of oceanic and continental influences: cold winters where frost can last up to sixty days a year, hot summers, and frequent late frosts in May and June. To cope with this climate, producers in the Perche gradually favoured late-flowering apple varieties, delaying fruit ripening and the start of fermentation accordingly — generally from mid-November onwards, when other parts of Normandy have already begun. As early as the 16th century, apple cultivation developed on the region's religious and seigneurial estates; in the 17th and 18th centuries, orchards spread to almost every farm in the Perche, where cider became an everyday drink.
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From the 1950s onwards, the closure of industrial pressing plants, the mechanisation of farming practices and crop intensification caused apple trees virtually to disappear from the meadows and fields of the Perche. It was not until the late 1980s that farm producers specialised once again in cider and revived the Perche cider sector — a movement spearheaded for twenty-two years by the syndicat du Cidre du Perche and six founding estates: La Ferme Duchêne, le Domaine du Ruisseau, le Domaine du Tertre, la Maison Ferré, le Verger de la Reinette and L'Hermitière. Their efforts culminated, following the approval of the INAO national committee on 6 February 2020, in official recognition as an appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) 'Cidre du Perche' or 'Perche' by a decree of 28 October 2020, followed by its registration as a PDO (PDO-FR-2648) by the European Commission in June 2022.
The appellation area covers around 106 communes across the departments of Orne, Eure-et-Loir and Sarthe — a transition territory between the massif armoricain and the bassin parisien, with clay-limestone or sandy soils (chalk, green clays, sables du Perche). Mortagne-au-Perche, in Orne, is among them: it is around this same Pays de Mortagne-au-Perche that the local tourist office locates the preserved standard orchards that enabled the sector's revival in the late 1980s.
Appearance
Golden-yellow to orange hue.
Taste
A balance of sweet, bitter and acidic notes, fruity aromas, a slight mid-palate bitterness and a sensation of freshness on the finish.
Texture
Sparkling cider, obtained by natural secondary fermentation in the bottle, uncarbonated, unpasteurised — a lively yet non-foaming effervescence.
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This characterful cider, at once rounded and crisply refreshing, pairs well with a charcuterie board, according to local producers.
Since: 2020
Area covered: The Perche, straddling Orne, Eure-et-Loir and Sarthe — around 106 communes, including the Perche ornais around Mortagne-au-Perche
Key requirements: Sparkling demi-sec or brut cider, obtained by natural secondary fermentation in the bottle, unpasteurised, uncarbonated; pure cider apple juice from around forty local varieties (including saint-hilaire and rousse), with a maximum of 20% of orchard area planted with sharp varieties, and at least 30% in standard orchards.
Since: 2022
Area covered: Orne, Eure-et-Loir et Sarthe — environ 106 communes
Key requirements: Actual alcoholic strength by volume ≥ 3.5%, total alcoholic strength ≥ 6%, sugar content ≥ 18 g/litre, pressure ≥ 1.5 bar at 20 °C; all stages (harvesting, production, secondary fermentation, packaging) carried out within the geographical area.
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