Templar’s Choice


Adam and Anne Bland’s Knights Templars Seigneurie farmhouse gives its name to Templar’s Choice ciders. Located in in the Pays d’Auge in Normandy, near the town of Vimoutiers in the department of Calvados, it’s traditionally held to be exceptional for cider (and, indeed, Calvados apple brandy).

The farm’s 45 acres, with some 30 acres of cider apple orchards, are well-draining and south-facing, growing 100% traditional cider varieties, some of which are exclusively recommended for this small area, a ‘terroir’ famous for producing a very aromatic and deep flavoured, naturally sparkling cider. The orchards are officially in organic conversion, have never been ploughed and have a complete biodynamic balance. Untreated, they abound in insects, birds, wildlife and wildflowers.

Templar’s Choice ciders are keeved *with the natural apple yeasts and then slowly fermented throughout the winter months and bottled in the spring when a small, secondary fermentation takes place in the bottle to give a naturally sparkling cider. No sugar is added, the sweetness from the apples themselves determine the dry, medium or sweet taste of the ciders. The ciders are gluten free and vegetarian and vegan friendly.

History notes: Cider and its derivatives have been made for over 2000 years in France, first by the Celts, followed in the time of Charlemagne by the monks at Vimoutiers. French royalty often took a close interest in the development of cider and drank it on a daily basis. The order of Knights Templar was dissolved some 700 years ago, but still lives on in a number of place names. All Templar’s Choice ciders are sold in strengthened, corked and wired bottles, a technique developed in the 19th Century when the arrival of the railway meant that empty champagne bottles from Paris could be brought down to Normandy by train and refilled with sparkling cider and sent back to Paris

*Keeving is an artisan cider-making technique used to create a natural cider without sweetening or pasteurisation. Wild yeasts, cool cellars and low nutrient orchards are all key elements in the process. Only 100% fresh pressed cider apples are used, no sugar, no water, and nothing else.

Templar’s Choice ciders are available to buy from Cider Is Wine – just click this link: Our Shop – Templar’s Choice

TEMPLAR’S CHOICE: Les Noyers, Lisores, Normandie, France. 14140

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