Michel Huard Hors d'Age Calvados (750ml)
SKU #1079308
95 points
Vinous
Pinning down the term hors d’age is a moving target, but this bottling by Michel Huard stands at the older end, with a minimum of 10-year-old spirits, along with a significant percentage that is more than 25 years old. Golden-colored, it opens with a gorgeous, old-time nose - rustic in the best sense of the word. There’s woodiness here, from the nose to the finish, but it’s an attractive virtue, with deep and well-integrated. There’s balanced aromas and flavors of tarte tatin, with notes of pepper and even salted licorice. In the mouth, it’s expansive, like a blanket in the mouth that says 'comfort me with apples' all the way through the long finish. This might be the Calvados to convert a bourbon drinker to the pleasures of apple brandy. An excellent value to boot for such a high-quality spirit. (AOC Calvados, 40% abv.) (JW)
(11/2018)
K&L Notes
From Charles Neal: "The Huard family have lived on the Le Pertyer property in the Suisse-Normand for five generations. Jean-Francois Guillouet, who recently took over for his retired grandfather Michel, is the seventh generation. If one were to consider the properties of Camut and Giard from the Domaine de Montreuil as the most stunning examples of hautes-tiges plantings in the Pays d'Auge, and Lemorton as the most revered property in the Domfrontais, the Huard property would have to be considered the most admired in AOC Calvados."
