Belle Brutale
At a Glance
- Varieties: Upper Normady GAEC Johannes apples (sweet, bitter) and 50% Perche apples (acidic) from further south
- Terroir: Old orchard in Normandy
- Agriculture: High-branched trees
- Cider-making: Crushed, multiple-day maceration before pressing, light settling before indigenous yeast fermentation in stainless steel tanks. Natural prise de mousse in bottle, hand-riddled, hand-disgorged. No sulfur, no enzymes, no filtering agents.
- Sweetness: Sec
Additional Info
If Trois Pépins is normally the cider that presses all the right buttons for dryness and saltiness, Belle Brutale takes this to an entirely different level. On the first sip, the “brutale” part of the name is warranted. Its dryness and saltiness will catch you off-guard: they are jaw-dropping. But once past the element of surprise, you will notice Belle Brutale’s incredible precision and clarity, and its beautiful texture. It lives in the world of sea water very subtly flavored with heirloom apples and citrus, of fino sherries, of the fresher, more acidic of the Cantillon bottlings, and beverages based on noble bitters. It is a VERY adult drink, a minimalist exercise on salinity that could have a place in a museum of modern art. - Paul Wasserman