Our Top Pays d'Auge Calvados Picks Under $100

The Château du Breuil was built in the 16th and 17th centuries in what is now Lower Normandy. The distillery itself, however, wasn't built until 1954. This Fine Calvados is aged minimally for 2 years in oak barrels.

Manoir de Montreuil is a collaboration between legendary importer Charles Neal and veteran calvados producer Patrice Giard. The project uses apples from Giard's beautiful, cow-filled orchards in the Pays d'Auge which are distilled twice using a traditional Alembic still. Older varieties of apples are favored because of their complexity despite the fact that they don't produce as much juice -- it's truly a labor of love. The Montreuil label represents a more fruit-forward style than Giard's classic line. Charles blends a spirit with bright orchard tones that sit very nicely in a cocktail, but the calvados has enough finesse to enjoy on its own.

Roger Groult distills Calvados in the Pays d'Auge region of France, in Saint-Cyr-du-Ronceray. The cider base is comprised entirely of apples and aged for one year prior to distillation in copper pot-stills. After two distillations, it is aged in old Limousin oak barrels for a minimum of three years, with some older Calvados blended in as well.

For his entry-level calvados, Drouin chooses apples and pears from the Domfront region, and single-column distillation (as opposed to the double-distillation in a pot still used for his other spirits) to create a lighter, earlier-maturing spirit. This young calvados is intended as an aperitif or to be used in cocktails.

This Calvados from the Pays d'Auge is produced in Le Breuil-en-Auge, in Lower Normandy. As is required of this region, the Calvados is double-distilled in copper pot stills. It is aged in French oak at the Château for at least 8 years.

The Camut estate grows a staggering 800 types of apples on their bucolic property in the heart of the Pays d'Auge region of Calvados. This, and the maturation in large semi-full oak barrels, creates a spirit with surprising complexity and softness for a relatively young brandy. The Pays D'Auge AOC requires double distillation in copper pot stills, but the Camuts go a step further by using wood fire to power the still the old fashioned way.

In 1860, Pierre Groult first distilled his cider and aged the eau de vie in oak barrels, starting a five generation tradition of producing in the village of Saint-Cyr du Ronceray in Normandy. Now overseen by Jean-Roger Groult, their Calvados is still double-distilled in pots over wood fires. Their cider, using 30 apple varieties, ferments and rests on the lees for a full year before the first distillation. After the final distillation, the eau de vie ages in large barrels most of which are more than 100 years old which are never fully emptied. Bottling is done on the estate without chill filtration.

Christian Drouin, père, began distilling Calvados in 1960 after purchasing a farmhouse and surrounding orchards, only to find little demand for his apples. Luckily a family friend with his portable still came to the rescue. The mobile stills built in 1947 are still in use at the Drouin estate, where they found their permanent home. The VSOP bottling is a blend of eaux-de-vie that have aged between five and twelve years.