Charlie Harvey

Review — Cidre Bouché Cuvée du Cellier

Written by Charlie on

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Cidre Bouché by Marie-Agnés Herout from CiderCider at the Plein du Publique, Rotterdam

Picture of a bottle of Cidre Bouché cider

Like the Cidre Domaine de la Galotière that I reviewed the other day, this came from a craft market called Plein du Publique in Pijnackerplein in Rotterdam courtesy of Wouter Bijl of CiderCider. I’d had a little try of it before I bought and was bowled over by tasting a French cider that was quite so astringent. Its organic, unpasteurised and naturally fermented, for which read the good stuff. The producers also make calvados and other apple-themed products.

The Google translation of the Cidrerie et caves Herout website tells me that Our Cuvée du Cellier is a biological clogged cider obtained by fermentation with natural fermentation in the bottle; neither pasteurized nor gasified. I guess that clogged is maybe cloudy in this context. It comes in a nice 75cl bottle with a simple plastic label. Its 5.5%, towards the upper end for a French-style cider.

Its fizzy and a little cloudy, though nothing on a scrumpy of course. And it fizzes away merrily when you pour it, with a nice thinnish white foam on top. The colour is a middling orangey-yellow. Smell is dry as is the first taste, but it gets even drier as it goes on. And astringent. Like drinking appley witch-hazel. Which is the sort of thing that I love, but not to everyone’s taste for sure. You could think of it as a bit like a French equivalent of a Roger Wilkins Farmhouse cider.

Cider meal through excellence!

Beneath all that astringent,tannin yumminess, there is a lighter bittersharpness lurking and some rounded mellowness in the aftertaste. Altogether a great cider. Recommend you get some if you’re ever in the Netherlands (or Normandy!). I’ll leave the last word to the google translation of the Herout website which made me chuckle: Cider meal through excellence!. Amen to that.

2013-05-16 by Charlie Harvey


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