Didier Lemorton Rarete

Didier Lemorton Rarete

Brandy: Calvados
From: Domfrontais
House: Didier Lemorton
Style: Single distillery
Colour: Walnut
ABV: 40%

N: Pear drops, cinnamon, dried apples, lime zest, acacia honey, hints of jasmine.

M: Medium body, warm, slippery, airy.

T: Bitter sour. Cinnamon, dried apples, dried pears, jasmine, lime juice, leather, hints of linseed oil.

F: Medium. Dried apples, dried pears, linseed oil, jasmine, hints of fresh baked bread.

Comments:

One of the very best expressions from this distillery, the spirit is a blend of very old eaux-de-vie, some of which are reportedly more than 100 years old. The colour is certainly impressive, dark walnut with hints of bronze highlights. The nose is classic Calvados, apples and pears, in this case mostly dried. On the tongue, I was surprised - it's not sweet at all, but bitter and tart, highly complex, with a dry, slightly dusty set of fruity flavours. There's even some leather, and an acrid note of linseed oil. It's not at all unpleasant, it's unusual, and it's not like other Calvadoses.

What is it with old spirits? They get more and more complex, picking up more of the wood they are resting in, losing some of the notes from their spirit base. There's a sweet spot where they're super complex and layered, lots of interesting flavours, which can only be unlocked by drinking slowly. Then after an even longer while, they pick up notes of leather, oil and dust, dried fruit and rancio, and start to taste like other old spirits. I've found this with whisky, armagnac, cognac and now Calvados. The age at which a spirit reaches this stage varies though, certainly you need something distilled more than 50 years ago, and hopefully aged in wood for most of that time.

Verdict:

I like this a lot.