Eric Bordelet - Sidre Brut Tendre, Mayenne, France (2021)

TASTING NOTES

Semi-dry cider that strikes the perfect balance between acidity, fruit and sweetness. Classic profile of juicy, yellow apples firm tannins and some wildflowers.

Eric Bordelet is a former sommelier in some of France’s best restaurants, took over his family’s cider business wanting to apply everything he had learned about eonology to the world of cider.

Eric Bordelet returned to Mayenne near the southern border of Normany to take over his family business in 1992. The Bordelet property currently consists of 23 hectares of certified organic cider apple, pear and service trees. This includes 30 varieties on apple, twenty varieties of pear and 8 varieties of service fruit.

The property sits on the massif Armorican on brioverian schists and sedimentary rock from the Precambrian era considered to be some of the best soil for cider orchards.

Organic cultivation, alongside bio-dynamic soil treatments are currently considered best practice in terms of growing quality cider fruit. The Bordelet orchards have been certified organic since 1996.

Come the fall, all fruit is harvested by hand, into wire baskets and then placed into paloxes (large wooden crates). In the cidery each variety of fruit is processed individually: it is assembled, coarsely ground, gently pressed and the juice is racked and settled. No sucrose is added to any of the ferments and sulphur is used sparingly (final amount dependent on the vintage and cuvée).