A Norman
conquest

A tra­di­tion­al, loc­al bever­age, today Pommeau de Normandie is to Cal­va­dos what Pineau des Char­entes is to Cognac.

Its ori­gins prob­ably date back to the 16^th cen­tury with the devel­op­ment of dis­til­la­tion in West­ern France.

Already at that time, many farm­ers had the habit of adding “cider eau-de-vie” (Cal­va­dos) to their freshly-pressed apple juice.

This oper­a­tion — known as “mutage” — has long reflec­ted a tra­di­tion­al savoir-faire, known only to the inhab­it­ants of the region

The first attempts to offi­cially sell Pommeau de Normandie, in fact, only go back to 1946 when a group of pro­du­cers sought to pro­mote what was then referred to as a “cidre de liqueur” (liqueur cider).

They did not suc­ceed because the sale of cider-based aper­itifs was still pro­hib­ited at that time by a decree dat­ing from 1935.

How­ever, insist­ing on the fact that it was an ances­tral product, in 1948, they then sub­mit­ted an applic­a­tion for a “Pineau nor­mand” (Nor­mandy Pineau) made from cider and Cal­va­dos to be recog­nised as an appel­la­tion d’ori­gine con­trôlée (AOC). 

The fol­low­ing year, the ANIPP — Asso­ci­ation Nationale Inter­pro­fes­sion­nelle des Pro­duc­teurs de Pommeau (Nation­al Inter­pro­fes­sion­al Asso­ci­ation of Pommeau Pro­du­cers) — was set up by 15 pro­du­cers pro­du­cing 12 000 bottles between them at the time.

Two years later, sales had ris­en to 150,000 bottles. The product had been an instant hit.

Since 1986, the con­di­tions of pro­duc­tion of Pommeau de Normandie have been pro­gress­ively estab­lished and pro­tec­ted by decree.

Since it obtained AOC status, more and more pro­du­cers, large and small, have been pro­du­cing and pro­mot­ing Pommeau.

Around 100 com­pan­ies are now involved in the pre­ser­va­tion and sale of this fab­ulous tra­di­tion­al beverage.

In 2022, over 600,000 bottles were sold.