Property Calvados - Buy, Rent & Stay in Calvados, France

Calvados

The French département of Calvados forms part of the région of Basse-Normandie (lower Normandy). It takes its name from a cluster of rocks off its coast and is famous for its apple liqueur.

Calvados is surrounded by the départements of Seine-Maritime, Eure, Orne, and Manche. On the north is the Baie de la Seine, part of the English Channel, and on the east the Seine River forms the boundary with Seine-Maritime. It includes the Bessin area, the Pays d'Auge, and the area known as the Suisse normande ("Norman Switzerland") from the cragginess of its landscape.

Major Towns in Calvados:

Caen

Caen - The préfecture of the Calvados département and the capital of the Basse-Normandie. The city has a population of 115 000 inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 200 000. Its inhabitants are called the caennais (and caennaise(s) for women). It is located 15 km (6 miles) inland from the English Channel (French: La Manche) and is noted for its historical buildings built during the reign of William the Conqueror, who was buried here, and for the Battle for Caen; heavy fighting that took place in and around Caen during the Battle of Normandy in 1944, destroying much of the town.

Deauville

Deauville - A commune of the Calvados département. With its racecourse, harbour, marinas, conference centre, villas, Grand Casino and sumptuous hotels, Deauville is regarded as the queen of the Normanandy beaches.

Bayeux

Bayeux (pronounced /bajø/) - A small town and commune in the Calvados département. Located just a few kilometres from the coast of the English Channel, and between the city of Caen to the east and the base of the Cotentin Peninsula to the west. The area around Bayeux is called the Bessin which was a province of France until the French Revolution. The name of the town and of its region come from the Celtic tribe of Bajocasses who inhabited the area.

During the Second World War Bayeux was one of the first French towns to be liberated during the Battle of Normandy, and on June 16, 1946 General Charles de Gaulle made his first important speech on liberated French soil in Bayeux. The buildings in Bayeux were virtually untouched during the Battle of Normandy as the German forces defending the town were pulled away to help defend Caen. The town hosts the largest British war cemetery in Normandy.

Bayeux is a major tourist attraction, best known to British and French visitors for the Bayeux tapestry, made to commemorate the Norman conquest of England in 1066. It is displayed in a museum in the town centre. The town also has a large Norman-Romanesque cathedral, consecrated in 1077, which was the original home of the tapestry.

Lisieux

Lisieux lies in the bottom of the valley of the river Touques and on the road from Paris to Caen.

Sites of interest in Calvados

• Cathédrale Saint-Pierre Built between 1170 and the middle of the 13th century. The front of the building is three portals mounted by two towers. The right hand tower was built in the XVIth century and is mounted by a 17th century arrow. Buttresses were added on the south face in the 15th century.
• Basilique Sainte-Thérèse was consacrated on 11 July 1954. The Campagnile's construction ended in 1975 and is 45 m tall.
• Carmel
• Jardin de l'Evêché (Jardin Public) built in the second quarter of the XIXth century and bordered by Cour Matignon, rue Condorcet and Boulevard Carnot.
• Vire - andouille, a speciality of Vire is a spiced, heavily smoked pork sausage,

Culture of Calvados

The Bayeux Tapestry stems from Bayeux and makes the city one of the most-visited tourist destinations in Normandy.

Juno Beach Centre at Courseulles-sur-Mer, Calvados, commemorates the D-Day landing of the Canadian liberation forces at Juno Beach during World War II in 1944.

The cult of Thérèse de Lisieux brings large numbers of people on pilgrimage to Lisieux.

Calvados The Drink:

Calvados is an apple brandy from the French région of Lower Normandy.

History of Calvados

Apple orchards and brewers are mentioned as far back as the 8th century by Charlemagne. The first known Norman distillation was carried out by 'Lord' de Gouberville in 1554, and the guild for cider distillation was created about 50 years later in 1606. In the 17th century the traditional ciderfarms expanded but taxation and prohibition of cider brandies were enforced elsewhere than Brittany, Maine and Normandy. The area called 'Calvados' was created after the French Revolution, but 'Eau de vie de cidre' was already called 'calvados' in common usage. In the 19th century output increased with industrial distillation and the working class fashion for 'Café-calva'. When a phylloxera outbreak devastated vineyards calvados experienced a 'golden age'. During World War I cider brandy was made for armaments. The appellation contrôlée regulations officially gave calvados a protected name in 1942. After the war many cider-houses and distilleries were reconstructed, mainly in the Pays d'Auge. Many of the traditional farmhouse structures were replaced by modern agriculture with high output. The calvados appellation system was revised in 1984 and 1996. Pommeau got its recognition in 1991; in 1997 an appellation for Domfront with 30% pears was created.

The fruit is picked and pressed into a juice that is fermented into a dry cider. It is then distilled into eau de vie. After two years aged in oak casks, it can be sold as Calvados. The longer it is aged, the smoother the drink becomes. Usually the maturation goes on for several years. A half-bottle of twenty-year-old Calvados can easily command the same price as a normal-sized bottle of ten-year-old Calvados.

Like most French wines, Calvados is governed by appellation contrôlée regulations. There are three appelations for calvados:

* The AOC calvados area includes all of the Calvados, Manche, and Orne départements and parts of Eure, Mayenne, Sarthe, and Eure-et-Loir.

• AOC calvados makes up for over 70 percent of the total production.
• Minimum of two years ageing in oak barrels.
• The terroir, geographical area, is defined.
• The apples and pears are defined cider varieties.
• The procedures in production like pressing, fermentation, distillation and ageing is regulated.
• Usually single column distillation.

* The more restrictive AOC calvados Pays d'Auge area is limited to the east end of the département of Calvados and a few adjoining districts.

Extensive quality control - the basic rules for AOC calvados together with several additional requirements.

• Ageing for minimum of two years in oak barrels.
• Double distillation in an alembic pot-still.
• Produced within the designated area in Pays d'Auge.
• A minimum of six weeks fermentation of the cider.
• Flavour elements are controlled.

* AOC calvados Domfrontais reflects the long tradition of pear orchards in the area, resulting in a unique fruity calvados. The regulation is similar to the AOC calvados and the column still is used.

• A minimum of 30 percent pears from the designated areas is used.
• A three-year minimum of ageing in oak barrels.
• The orchards must consist of at least 15 percent of pear trees (25 percent from the sixteenth harvest).

* Fermier 'farm-made' calvados - some quality minded producers both inside and outside the Pays d'Auge make 'calvados fermier', which indicates that the calvados is entirely made on the farm in a traditional agricultural way according to high quality demands.

Grades include

The age is mentioned with a certain choice of words and refers to the youngest part of the blend. Some choose to indicate the minimum age in years instead. A blend often contains parts of older calvados. Among higher quality calvados the oldest part of the blend is sometimes much older than mentioned below.

• 'Fine', 'Trois étoiles *** 'Trois pommes' - 2 years old.
• 'Vieux' - 'Réserve' - 3 years old.
• 'V.O.' 'VO', 'Vieille Réserve', 'V.S.O.P.' 'VSOP' - 4 years old. Often sold older.
• 'Extra', 'X.O.' 'XO', 'Napoléon', 'Hors d'Age' 'Age Inconnu' - 6 years old. Often sold much older.
• '1973' (millesime) - The vintage year (the year of distillation).

Tasting Calvados

Calvados is the basis of the tradition of le trou Normand, or "the Norman hole". This is a small drink of Calvados taken between courses in a very long meal, sometimes with apple sorbet, supposed to re-awaken the appetite. Calvados can be served as aperitif, blended in drinks, between meals, as digestive or with coffee. Well-made calvados should naturally be reminiscent of apples and pears, balanced with flavours of ageing. You will notice that the less aged calvados distinguishes itself with its fresh apple and pear aromas. The longer the calvados is under the influence of oak, the more the taste resembles that of any other aged brandy. Older calvados get the colour of gold, darker brown with orange elements and red mahogany. The nose and palate is delicate with concentration of aged apples and dried apricots balanced with butterscotch, nut and chocolate aromas.

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