We are thrilled to announce our latest "Spirits from the Source" selection, the most exciting pick we’ve done to date: the first-ever cask-strength Calvados bottlings from the unmatched Didier Lemorton. It’s no secret that Didier and his wife Martine craft the finest single-distilled brandies in all of Calvados — everything, from the new-make to their 50-year old stock is fruit-loaded, complex and palate-coating.
It’s partially the fruit: the couple are down in the Calvados Domfrontais, pear country, and distill from almost 70% pear grown on their small polyculture farm in Mantilly (where their dairy cows roam in their orchards of hundred-year-old pear trees).
Freshly-harvested pears getting ready for fermentation & distillation…
Everything is hand-harvested, distilled in house and aging takes place in big foudres (see below), so there is less wood contact and more fruit focus.
Most importantly, nothing is proofed down as it ages, only at bottling, which is rare in Calvados. Nearly every other producer we’ve ever visited has proofed down a majority of their barrels after a couple of years, or sometimes even right after distillation.
Didier pulling a sample of vintage Calvados from foudre.
In short, the Lemortons do painstaking and patient work in the orchard and cellar; The results are simply exquisite, nectar-of-the-gods Calvados that are clean, deep and with tons of soul. Everything we’ve tasted in their cellar throughout the years is spectacular, and even the older juice seems to be so vibrant it’s hard to believe.
Tasting old vintages in the cellar...
So why haven’t we released from them before? Because when we first visited in fall of 2022, Didier was very reluctant to do a non-reduced bottling.
Even though he doesn’t typically reduce during élévage, he had always done bottlings at 40 or 41%, never more. Unlike in Armagnac, the tradition of Calvados is reduction; blends and single vintage nearly always are reduced to around 40%.
It’s partially that Calvados is distilled to almost 70% unlike Armagnac in the low 60s, so cask strength can often be very high even after decades of aging. It’s probably also just a custom of avoiding high taxes as the French government taxes spirit stock each year based on ABV!
We thought they were so special as they were in the cellar, and felt like we had to convince him to do it at cask-strength (though they would have been very good reduced).
Well, he needed some time to come around. 3 years of time. What you’re receiving is the result of a Herculean effort, of negotiations off and on since 2022, multiple visits and aperitifs enjoyed together discussing French soccer, Calvados, moonshine and life. And above all, of the merits of bottling his work for the first time in its natural state.
We’ve selected a 1982 and a 1998 to start here. The 1998 is a powerhouse and the 82 no quieter, but a little more mellow. Both bottles clock in it over 50%, but the balance is all there, the foudre-aging gives a soft wood structure that really lets the pristine pear flavors shine through.
More so than for our other selections, this deal with Lemorton feels like a rare opportunity to capture a fleeting, shooting star. We may likely get a few more bottlings from him if we can continue to convince, but the old stock is dwindling and it appears that there might not be any new make coming.
Didier and Martine say that their children don’t want to take over the farm, so our run of bottlings, however long it lasts, will likely be the first and last series of cask strength ever done by the house. These are simply are holy grail Calvados, these are why we started this project. Tiny batches from epic producers.
THE BOTTLES:
Lemorton 1998, New Cellar Foudre - $255.99
Distilled in: 1998 | Fruit: 70% Heirloom Pear, 30% Heirloom Apple | ABV: 58%
Appellation: Calvados Domfrontais
The 1998 is an absolute powerhouse in its middle-age stride, the high-proof balanced expertly by the incredible purity and depth of fruit that seems to come more often than not from pear in Calvados, not apple. We selected this from the property’s newer cellar, a granite-walled, slate-roofed building adjacent to property’s small tasting room and the manor house where Didier and his wife live. Didier and his father distilled this vintage in 1998, a few years before a terrible windstorm that knocked out a key portion of their orchard filled with 100-year-old-plus pear trees.
It’s slightly drier inside this cellar than in the old cave, which makes for a more concentrated and rich spirit. They have a few foudres of this left, but we are able only to bottle a very limited run, just 102 bottles released. 1 BOTTLE PER PERSON, PLEASE.
SHOP 1998 LEMORTON
Lemorton 1982, Old Cellar Foudre - $449.99
Distilled in: 1982 | Fruit: 70% Heirloom Pear, 30% Heirloom Apple | ABV: 51%
Appellation: Calvados Domfrontais
The 1982 is simply a perfect example of why we love Lemorton: a seductive and complex cask with superb transitions and that elusive combination of both incredible lightness and concentration that can only be found in elite brandies.At our initial visit with Lemorton, we had a “we need to bottle this now” experience on first sip.
Distilled by Didier’s father Roger, this is from of a run of 1980s vintages that are absolutely stunning. Along with the tiny remaining stock of 70s vintages, these are considered the “family jewels” of the property and are full-on hitting their prime now. Everything this vintage was aged in barrels and foudres in the family’s original granite-walled cellar (the same cellar where distillation takes place). It’s a relatively humid building, which allows for an excellent balance of alcohol and fruit over time.
They are down to one last old oak foudre of the 1982, this bottling was taken from there at cask-strength. A very limited run, just 102 bottles released. 1 BOTTLE PER PERSON, PLEASE.
SHOP 1982 LEMORTON
