Manoir de
Grandouet

Located on the “Route du Cidre” (Cider Route) near the village of Cambremer, in the heart of the Pays d’Auge, the Manoir de Grandouet cellar is open to visitors throughout the year. The terroir and the climate make this an excellent location for cider production.

Beneath Grandouet’s small 12^th-cen­tury church, the 16^th-cen­tury timber-framed press room, belong­ing to the Grand­v­al family since 1856, houses foudres (large vats) that are over a cen­tury old. Yvon, the grand­fath­er, recon­struc­ted the manor and star­ted devel­op­ing the cider pro­duc­tion activ­ity in 1945. François, the father, con­tin­ued this devel­op­ment and still handles the Calvados dis­til­la­tion and ageing. Today, Stéphane, the son, and his wife, Lucile, are per­petu­at­ing this savoir-faire.

On this typ­ic­al Pays d’Auge farm ded­ic­ated to apple and milk AOCs/AOPs, the pro­duc­tion has now been con­ver­ted to organ­ic agriculture.

All the apple-based products are craf­ted from the farm’s 25 or so vari­et­ies of cider apples and aged, to con­tin­ue to draw out all their fla­vours, in the timber-framed cellars.

The Pays d’Auge AOP ciders are rich in colour and sub­tlety. They com­bine a fruity round­ness and a hint of bit­ter­ness. The Pom­meau de Nor­man­die is aged in oak bar­rels where it takes on a gor­geous amber hue. The Pays d’Auge AOC Calvados are made using a pot still and aged accord­ing to tra­di­tion­al meth­ods. Apple juice and perry, also made with fruit from the farm, com­plete the range.

All the products, as well as the Normandy AOP cheeses (Pont‑l’evêque, Livarot and Camem­bert de Nor­man­die), are sold dir­ectly at the cellar.

The tast­ing is free and you can expect a warm family wel­come! The tour also includes a video that explains all the har­vest­ing, pro­cessing and dis­til­la­tion work.