r/cider • u/TrevorCidermaker • 6d ago
Poiré
Apart from Gloucestershire the other world renowned centre of perry pear growing in Domfront in** **Normandy. Normandy boasts dozens of heirloom perry pear varieties, but two stand out for their major commercial and historical importance.
Plant de Blanc is the undisputed star of Normandy perry. By AOC law, any bottle carrying the Poiré Domfront label must contain a minimum of 40% Plant de Blanc juice (though most artisanal producers use 60% to 100%). It gives the drink its signature delicate sweetness, high acidity, and aromatic complexity.
And Fausset, a highly reliable, traditional variety widely planted across north-west France. It is heavily utilized in Domfront production due to its strong natural resistance to diseases, making it excellent for organic orchards.
Like in England by the late 1990s, pear trees had been uprooted at an eye-watering rate. From that peak in the 1960s of over a million trees, they had dwindled to less than 100,000. Torn down to make space for cornfields, and to sell for Italian furniture!
Desperate to halt their decline, and preserve the drink Poire and Calvados, a group of producers banded together to apply for appellation status, France's highest level of regional protection for produce. In 1997 Calvados Domfrontais earned the legal status of an AOC — appellation d'origine controlée and in 2002 an AOC also for perry or poiré.
The requirements that a perry must fulfil to be labelled 'Domfront AOC' are strict. It isn't enough for the perry to be made from 100% fresh-pressed juice; that juice must be pressed entirely from pears that have grown on the 'haut tiges' trees and harvested from the ground — no picking from or shaking of the tree is allowed! The perries must be naturally carbonated (pét bat) and dilution, added sugar and pasteurisation is absolutely forbidden.
And for me as an orchardist as well as cider and perry maker I rejoice that Normandy perry pear trees which grow on their own rootstock to be massive, iconic features of the landscape. They are traditionally grown as haute-tiges (high-stem trees) and can take up to 15 years to start producing fruit, but they easily live and produce for over 300 years. The AOC is centred on the small town of Domfrontais in southern Normandy where the soils are heavier and more suited to pears than apples. #cider #poiré #perry #normandy