In a season of hours-long feasts, Calvados is one in all my favourite methods to finish a meal. (Others embody amaro and staying on the desk so lengthy that you just begin to really feel hungry once more.)
Lemorton Reserve, an aged Calvados from the Mantilly area of Normandy, France, is an particularly crowd-pleasing possibility. Distilled from apples and pears, it bridges autumnal and wintry flavors, and makes a wonderful dessert pairing or substitute. Normandy fruit is rightly celebrated, however this explicit Calvados will get a whole lot of complexity from the way it’s made and aged. The brandy sits on its lees in massive picket casks for as much as ten months, after which ages in used French oak barrels for 4 to six years earlier than bottling.
Along with toasty, tarte tatin flavors, it has an elegantly spherical texture with vanilla, natural, and gently oxidative notes. It’s simply the factor to pour while you’re desperate to maintain a dialog on the desk however can’t fathom consuming one other chunk.
Whereas younger Calvados are scrumptious in cocktails, I prefer to serve aged expressions like Lemorton Reserve neat. If the night time is younger and I’m in it for the lengthy haul, I may additionally splash it into an after-dinner cup of espresso, à la the drink that Normans name un café calva. It’s the festive season, in spite of everything—these halls aren’t going to deck themselves. astorwines.com, $59.96
