Pommeau

Pommeau is a Norman aperitif, made by blending fresh apple juice — the must — with young Calvados, the apple brandy of Normandy. The technique is that of a mistelle: the high alcohol of the Calvados, added to the unfermented must, raises the alcohol content above the level at which yeast can ferment, halting any fermentation before it begins and preserving the fresh apple fruit sugars and aromas. The blend is then aged in oak barrels for a minimum of about a year, during which it takes on color, structure, and subtle oaky notes. Pommeau carries an Appellation d'Origine Controlee. Served chilled as an aperitif, it can also accompany Normandy apple dishes and cheese courses.

A small glass of pommeau is amber-gold, with the fresh aroma of apples and the warm spirit-character of the Calvados. On the palate it is smooth and slightly sweet — the fresh fruit of the apple must mellowed by the oak aging — with a clean finish. Drunk chilled as an aperitif, it carries the orchard character of Normandy.

Pommeau rests on the mistelle technique — mutage, the arrest of fermentation by alcohol. Fresh apple must is pressed from cider apples; before any fermentation can begin, young Calvados — at roughly sixty to seventy percent alcohol — is blended in, raising the alcohol content to roughly sixteen to eighteen percent. At this strength, the alcohol inhibits the yeast that would otherwise convert the must's sugars into alcohol, so the fresh apple fruit sugars and aromatics are preserved in the blend. This is the same principle that produces other mistelles and fortified wines, but without any fermentation of the must itself. The subsequent oak aging — at least a year, often more — allows the pommeau to take on color, roundness, and complexity; the oak's tannins and the slow oxidation through the barrel integrate the apple and spirit characters.