Domaine Du Tertre 2008 Calvados

Single cask Calvados releases from Domaine du Tertre are elusive – they are only released when the producer feels they have reached their absolute peak, which means we sometimes go years without having any available.

This 14 year old cask strength release is a bombastic spirit full of huge cider, cocoa, baked apple, and cinnamon notes. Intense and complex with a well-integrated oak profile, this is a bottling not just for Calvados fans, but for those who appreciate all types of aged spirits.

Domaine du Tertre, producing both cider and small amounts of Calvados, is overseen by brothers Michel and Hubert Havard. In 2017, they became certified organic for their 45+ acres of orchard farming and their cider production. They maintain similar practices for their calvados but forgo certification due to the small size of production. Du Tertre works with 40 different apple varietals, all of which see zero chemical treatment and are harvested from "hautes tiges" (high branch), lower-yielding trees. Ciders are fermented for about a year in used oak and distilled only when the juice is totally free of sugar. Distillation takes place on a ten-plate Orthez column still by a traveling distiller. Age varies by cask but is usually between 15 and 20 years. Always bottled at cask strength with no additives.