Our Calvados Pays d’Auge VSOP has been with us and at Systembolaget since 2001. The drink was born from the idea that, as apple growers and apple processors, we also wanted a distilled apple spirit in our range. So we did what was most logical at the time: we contacted a number of Calvados producers in Normandy, chose our partner and created our own unique blend, with an unusually appley character for a Calvados, which we felt suited our brand and our values.
This Calvados VSOP has been distilled twice and aged in oak barrels, with a relatively small proportion of new barrels, for four years.
A curious fact: it takes about 18 kilos of apples to make one bottle of calvados, and a calvados can contain around a hundred different apple varieties. The ideal blend is said to be 40 per cent sweet, 40 per cent bitter and 20 per cent sharp apples. The region is said to have got its name from the Spanish warship El Calvador, which was wrecked off the coast of Normandy in 1588.
