Cidre Dupont Réserve

Brewed by Domaine Familial Louis Dupont
Style: Cider
Victot-Pontfol, France

2004 Vintage: Pours perfect yellow gold w/ a short lived, shallow spritzy froth. Strong aromas of cedar cigar box w/ wild apples and seltzer. Medium nectar w/ ample residual effers. Champagne size bubbles. Flavors are crisp and mellow, tart-sweet w/ an oaky character. I taste wild apples, green peaches, and kiwi fruit. Finishes long and fruity w/ slight bittering. Overall: very complex, not too sweet and very well balanced. I highly recommend this to any connoisseur and cider drinker.

22oz bottle at the SATRG. Hazy gold with floating bits of apple skin. Big apple nose, real fresh apples. A light bit of funk and a some brown sugar and cinnamon. Very sweet with a lively but not prickly carbonation. Calvados lends a heavy woody vanilla note at the backend. One of the best ciders I’ve had.

This was excellent. A cider with a giant head...retarded. Pours a deep opaque straw color. White lacy head. Nose is sour, while at the same time very smoky and burnt. Notes of mesquite. The calvados comes alive on the tongue. Ridiculous. Apple, smoked mesquite, sherry, oak. Delectible. Couldn’t finish it. The calvados left me with an intense black olive flavour. G-rat

2002 vintage... Poured a hazy gold color with no head or lacing. Aroma of horseblanket, and tart green apples. Sweet apple, calvado, mild alcohol taste, spicy (cinnamon) finish. Slick mouthfeel, my favorite cider, even though i’ve only had 3, but this was better than the non wood aged Dupont. Wow, had this again tonight, and it is still amazing!! Bumped it up one appearance point.

Medium haze in this medium gold cider. No head at all after about 10 seconds. Aroma is of baked apples sans seasonings, touch of cheese, wood, honeysuckle, and bacon. Flavor starts with some tart apple flavors, slowly descending into a complex woody character. Beautiful touch exhibited with the use of the Calvados barrels. Faint lambic like funk. Great stuff, 2002 bottling.

2002 Bottle. This was a present to my buddy who was leaving for his new job in seattle. The initial pour was yellow with some haze and some sediment. No head. HUGE aroma of sweet fruit. Reading other ratings, I see lots of comments about the watermellon aroma. That sounds right, if watermellon could be a little tart or sour. Absolutly delicious with plenty of upfront sweetness and a bit of geuze sourness on the finish. Very dry finish. So I guess it starts off like watermellon and finishes like a pear. Best cider I have ever had.

2003 A hazy blizzard induced yellowish-orange color lay almost completely uncovered but emitted a mind bending and phenomenal aroma alive with beautiful funk, barns, leather, sour grape, and cheese covered green apple...Soft delicate apple flavors with a nice funky fermented background with strange touches of caulk. As I sat at the table with 10+ ratebeerians, I exclaimed loudy that this cider tastes like Caulk. we laughed and rejoiced. It was a grand time.

750ml bottle poured into a wine glass. I shared this bottle with Brooke. This is easily the best cider I have ever had. That being said, my experience with cider is quite limited. I thought the body was a great balance between dry and sweet. The taste was delicate and balanced. I would be more than willing to have another bottle of this or to keep some handy in the cellar for nice dinners.