Manoir du Kinkiz "Cidre de Fouesnant" Pur Jus, Brittany, France NV

This cider has a lot of personality and is well-defined by its roundness, persistent flavors of freshly cut apple, complemented by notes of butter, and hazelnut.

Fouesnant is a commune on the south coast of Brittany (Finistère) in northwestern France. Fouesnant is renowned for its orchards and is regarded as the source of some of the very best Breton cider. Kinkiz’s Fouesnant cider is assembled from old apple varieties, all harvested by hand. The apples are then sorted manually, and pressing is done only when the fruit is at its peak ripeness (from late September to December). The fermentation is slow and ends with a 2 and ½ month bottle fermentation, giving the cider its very fine bubbles.

Early in life Hervé Seznec already knew his calling─ to produce great cider. At the age of 19 he replanted his 30 hectares (74 acres) of orchards with nearly 25 varieties of apples. He had an intense desire to make naturally sparkling, high quality cider, from his own orchards. Hervé’s passion to improve and innovate, is abundantly evident in his cider.

All the work at Manoir du Kinkiz is done with the utmost respect for nature. They use no herbicides in their orchards, and they allow indigenous plants and grass to grow between the trees. From the ladybugs that rid their orchards of insects, to the almost mystical darkness of the cellars where their AOP Cornouaille cider is aged in huge oak casks, Kinkiz is making a genuine attempt to return to the hands-on, artisan production methods of their ancestors.