Guillaume de Normandie

Guillaume de Normandie constitutes a French production company dedicated to making fine and irresistible Calvados while respecting the well-established Norman tradition. In the 1930s, André Lelouvier began searching for the best Calvados in Normandy, aging them in wooden barrels within his own estate and perfecting the art of maturation and blending over the years. In the 1970s, his son Christian officially founded Guillaume de Normandie, guiding it with great expertise. In 2016, upon Christian Lelouvier's death, the estate was taken over by the production company Calvados Christian Drouin SAS, adept at preserving the long tradition of the Lelouvier house.
Guillaume de Normandie's Calvados are made from different varieties of apples and pears grown on granite- and shale-rich soils within the Domfront and Ferté Macé regions. The juice obtained from pressing the fruits undergoes alcoholic fermentation leading to cider, which is then distilled once in special stills until the so-called "blanche" is obtained. At this point, the distillate is placed to age in wooden barrels for periods ranging from 24 months to more than 15 years. During the aging process, Calvados enriches its aromatic and gustatory background with complex aromas and flavors due to the prolonged contact with wood and the micro-oxygenation exerted by the container. In addition, during this stage the distillate acquires its characteristic amber color.
The selection of the Guillaume de Normandie production reality includes Calvados of exceptional elegance and typicality, characterized by rich and particularly sweet aromas. Prominent among these are the Calvados XO, the result of a long maturation of up to 12 years in wooden barrels, and above all the Calvados Millesime, produced from several varieties of small apples from a single vintage and aged for at least 15 years in barrels.