2002 Bordelet Poir Granit

S

Seth Hill

Seth Hill
8 year old pear cider.

I used to love watching David Lillie get excited and say "And it can age, too!"

I'm so happy to have the chance to prove him right.

I've had a few bottles out of this stash- picked up on closeout from an importer up here in MA for peanuts. The bottles were stored vertically- some on their bases, some on their corks. Most of the ones that were stored on their bases show dried out corks and oxidation problems, but I cherry-picked mine from the others and they've been lovely.

This bottle was the best yet. Deeply golden, rich, some tannin, integrated rs, so good. Great match with the flash-fried eel that came to our table moments after being shown to us in a bucket.

So good.
 
originally posted by Otto Nieminen:
Yes, I love this stuff, though haven't ever aged them this long. But, please, it's perry, not pear cider.
Click to expand...

somehow, I'd never heard this term before. Is this accurate?

"Making perry
Traditional perry making is broadly similar to traditional cider making, in that the fruit is picked, crushed to make pomace, and pressed to extract the juice, which is then fermented using the wild yeasts found on the fruit's skin. The principal differences between perry and cider are that pears must be left for a critical period to mature after picking, and the pomace must be left to stand after initial crushing to lose tannins, a process analogous to wine maceration.[4] After initial fermentation, the drink undergoes a secondary malolactic fermentation while maturing.
Perry pears often have higher levels of sugar than cider apples, including unfermentable sugars such as sorbitol, which can give the finished drink a residual sweetness. They also have a very different tannin content to cider apples, with a predominance of astringent over bitter flavours.[4] The presence of sorbitol can give perry a mild laxative effect, seen in the names of some perry pear varieties such as the "Lightning Pear"; reputed to go straight through 'like lightning'.[5]
Perry from Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire made from traditional recipes now forms a European Union Protected Geographical Indication."

wiki

and:

ukcider
 
Thanks for the point of order, Otto, and the citation, Kirk. I had heard the term and knew the particulars of this cuvee's production, but never linked them as formally.

Otto, if you think you'll be around Boston I'll save a bottle for you.

The character that these pick up w/ the age is well worth the effort of laying some down.

Firms up my opinion that these are not only some of the best (ciders/perry), but world-class sparkling wines, period.
 
Yes, "perry" is the correct term and it is in use in the US. There have been so few makers -- and consumers -- that one just doesn't hear much about it.
 
Meant to reply to this ages ago, and forgot. Sorry.

The wikipedia article seems accurate to this amateur (i.e. when tasting through Bordelet's range, I chatted with the importer and it all reads like what he said). But there is such a thing as pear cider (which is apple cider with pear flavoring) which is why it is important to distinguish the two: the Bordelet is actually made entirely of pears, not just flavored with them.
 
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