Comte Louis
de Lauriston

Created to put a stop to illegal Calvados production in the Domfrontais region, the Calvados Comte Louis de Lauriston cellars now house the forgotten treasures from the time of illicit distilling, along with a unique range of vintages from several decades which are exported to over 20 countries.

The Dom­fron­tais region has always been the home of family far­ming with nume­rous small farms sepa­ra­ted by rutted tracks and bor­de­red by impe­ne­trable hedges. The Normandy Bocage with its rugged ter­rain proved to be the ideal ter­rain for boot­leg­gers. Here, Calvados was has­ti­ly pro­du­ced on windy winter nights, when no-one would be out to check the lega­li­ty of the dis­til­la­tion. And then one night, in 1962, govern­ment offi­cials burst in on the boot­leg­gers hard at work. Within an hour, the neigh­bou­ring far­mers, who had some­how got wind that one of their own was in danger, star­ted sho­wing up. Overw­hel­med by the crowd, the offi­cials were forced to line up against the walls of a stable in the glare of the head­lights of the trac­tors and cars arran­ged in a semi-circle around them. Seeing that things were taking a turn for the worse, Count Louis de Lau­ris­ton, the then Secre­ta­ry Gene­ral of the Far­mers’ Fede­ra­tion, was aler­ted and he arri­ved on the scene to find a way out of the situa­tion. After long nego­tia­tions, it was agreed that the fine impo­sed on the boot­leg­gers would be can­cel­led on the condi­tion that a cellar was crea­ted and sup­plied with Calvados that com­plied with all the cus­to­ma­ry obli­ga­tions. Count Louis de Lau­ris­ton agreed to be res­pon­sible for this project.

In 1962, Count Louis de Lau­ris­ton crea­ted the Chais du Verger Nor­mand in Dom­front to handle the dis­tri­bu­tion of the Calvados pro­du­ced by the Dom­fron­tais farmers.

In 1992, the Chais du Verger Nor­mand joined forces with Chris­tian Drouin S.A. for the pro­duc­tion and mar­ke­ting of their Calvados, per­ries, ciders and pom­meau. As part of this agree­ment, Louis de Lau­ris­ton gran­ted Chris­tian Drouin rights to the “Comte Louis de Lau­ris­ton” brand on the condi­tion that the qua­li­ty of the Calvados remain abso­lu­te­ly flawless !

In 2008, Guillaume Drouin took over from Mau­rice Che­vret as Pre­sident of the cellars.

Loca­ted in Dom­front in the Orne, the cel­lars offer 25-minute tours that are free for indi­vi­dual visi­tors but with a charge for groups of over 20 visi­tors. During the tour, visi­tors learn all about Calvados pro­duc­tion and blen­ding, the vin­tages (a house spe­cia­li­ty), as well as Pom­meau, per­ries and apple ciders.

At the end of the tour, which includes a tas­ting of many of the Louis de Lau­ris­ton pro­ducts, visi­tors can pur­chase and take home a selec­tion of the cellar’s finely-craf­ted pro­ducts avai­lable in its shop.