My great-grandfather would spend hours playing his organ at the foot of the still. I took the chance to learn music theory and harmony, on top of the art of distillation.
In his view, this instrument weaves an "organic" link between the fugues of Bach and the organic apples of our terroir.
Could the "stave" of this link between the sol of our soil and the key of the same name play a part in quality of our Calvados?
If music soften manners, why should it not do the same for our spirits?
The musical calvados cuvées
At Courménil, we distil in music.
An organ reproducing the tones of its masterpiece in Leipzig Cathedral, where the great composer rests, greets our calvados with suites by Bach.
If the first running of the heads calls for the most powerful fugues, we save the gentlest arias when the finest hearts of the run flow.
Music in the cellars of Courménil:
The ageing of spirits is often described as a period of silence.
But at Courménil we make it a time of grace. In balanced measure, our cellars turn into an auditorium, in the intimate conviction that Calvados in cask is a living matter, vibrant and receptive to the energies around it.
Just as at the conservatoire. the education of young calvados begins with a common grounding in classical music ( Bach, Haendel, Mozart, Schubert, etc) where harmonic frequencies reign supreme.
We sometimes steer certain cuvées towards "specialities", such as string quartets, opera and of course jazz (rag, stride and blues). We tried but gave up on certain families such as rap or metal, far too aggressive even for the power of young spirits.
So we keep to a "harmonic" repertoire that better suits the micro-vibrations that gently stir the alcohol and tanin molecules in our casks.
We are not so much chemists nor cranks, and could not therefore claim that this acoustic massage enhances the harmony of the aromas. In any case, our ears rejoice and our palates taste eaux-de-vie of extraordinary tenderness. The liquid becomes almost tactile, silky on the palate.
An experience that overwhelms the senses.
You no longer merely taste a great Calvados, you feel the echo of a symphony.
As not all music is within the "range" of young spirits, he lets their maturity evolve year by year, to move them "up the scale",
Others are "Crescendo".
And so some of our cuvées are aged "on the rocks"
"Rythmics or Ritmix? are they not, in English, both the right rhythm and the right blend?
Musical cuvées, in a word!
