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PGI — Normandy
France's leading cider orchard, Normandie ferments from its dessert and cider apples a sparkling, fruity, amber beverage — the direct heir to the standard orchards that shaped the Norman bocage.
Cider-based drink from Normandy, PGI (IGP) since 1996.
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Today, the Norman cider orchard spans 4,700 hectares, including nearly 3,000 in the former Basse-Normandie alone and 1,700 in Haute. Its favoured heartland is the Pays d'Auge, a kind of golden triangle of apples and cider whose points lie roughly at Cabourg, Honfleur and Vimoutiers — the exceptional quality of the fruit harvested there is due to soils rich in flint clay. It is the only Norman territory entitled, for its eaux-de-vie, to the appellation d'origine contrôlée Calvados, under specific conditions: apples harvested within the 'Pays d'Auge' perimeter and double distillation in Charentais pot stills. On this favoured land, the trees thrive mid-slope, along the hillsides overlooking the valleys: this is the traditional orchard of standard apple trees, with their sprawling forms, planted at a maximum of around a hundred per hectare to give the fruit generous exposure to the sun — an orchard complemented today by bush orchards where planting density sometimes reaches 700 trees per hectare, for higher yields, perhaps to the detriment of fruit quality.
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Some fifty authorised varieties of cider apple grow side by side in Norman orchards, with names evocative of the terroir — Doux Normandie, Moulin à Vent, Saint-Martin, Marie Ménard among others. Crushed, pressed, grated, they yield a must that ferments before the pure juice is racked off. From late September, the penetrating scent of apples drifts from lofts and farmyards where they are piled up to ripen; a second harvesting period takes place in October, and it is in late November, amid mist and cold, that the third and final harvest occurs. This peculiarity is due to the three flowering and ripening periods that cider apples undergo depending on the variety — one orchard may thus be carpeted in pink and white blossoms while its neighbour, in equally fine health, has not yet flowered. It was to protect this orchard and this savoir-faire that the protected geographical indication 'Cidre de Normandie' or 'Cidre normand' was registered in 1996 (file IG/05/96), its specifications having since been amended by a European implementing regulation of 4 October 2019. The area covers all five départements of the administrative region of Normandie — Seine-Maritime, Eure, Calvados, Manche, Orne — as well as designated communes in Oise, Eure-et-Loir, Mayenne and Sarthe, where all production operations take place.
Appearance
Colour ranging from pale yellow to dark orange, a sparkling drink with a fine foam.
Aroma
Powerful and varied aromas, predominantly fruity — apple, citrus, peach, apricot.
Taste
A fine balance between the bitterness and acidity brought by the different fruit varieties and the sweetness of unfermented sugars.
Texture
An effervescent drink, displaying fine bubbles and a light foam developed during bottling.
Cider comes in different styles according to its alcoholic strength: brut, dry and assertive, at around 5% vol.; demi-sec, rounder, at around 4% vol.; doux, light, at around 3% vol. — to which are added special cuvées aged in Calvados or whisky casks, fuller-bodied, at around 7% vol.
The fruit is grated then pressed to extract the must.
The must, fresh or stored, ferments in tanks.
The cider is bottled, where it develops its characteristic effervescence and fine foam.
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Cidre de Normandie is served chilled, between 8 and 10°C, in a tulip glass — narrower at the top than at the base — which concentrates its aromas; it is held by the stem so as not to warm it, and tilted at 45° when pouring to create a light foam. Cheese remains its pairing of choice: according to Arnaud Didier, oenologist at the Chambre régionale d'agriculture de Normandie, the finest match pairs a camembert de Normandie with a PDO Pays d'Auge cider, two products of the same terroir whose creaminess answers the cider's aromatic depth. More broadly, it is the intensity of the cheese that guides the choice: washed-rind cheeses such as Livarot or Pont-l'Évêque call for flavour-rich brut ciders, cooked pressed cheeses such as Comté pair with brut or even extra-brut ciders — the ciders of the Cotentin, in Normandie, are a fine example —, whilst soft cheeses prefer a demi-sec, with a sweeter roundness.
Since: 1996
Area covered: 5 départements of Normandie (Calvados, Eure, Manche, Orne, Seine-Maritime) + neighbouring cantons in Mayenne, Sarthe, Eure-et-Loir, Oise
Key requirements: Cider apples and optionally perry pears harvested and processed within the geographical area, fruit grated then pressed, tank fermentation before bottling
The PGI (IGP) ‘Cidre de Normandie’ covers the entire region, across a broad area and with more flexible specifications. Two protected designations of origin, narrower and more demanding, coexist within this same territory without depending on it: Cidre Pays d'Auge (the first Norman cider recognised under an appellation) and Cidre Cotentin, registered as a PDO (AOP) in 2018 across roughly 330 communes in northern Manche. These are not variations of the PGI, but distinct designations, each with its own area and its own defence organisation.
Trade association (defence and management organisation)
Craft industry
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