Genuine 100 percent apple ciders have risen alongside limo ciders.
In France, cider is often bottled in 0.75 liter bottles. Adobe Stock / AOP
– We have work to do in changing the image. Many people are reminded of the cider that was offered 15 years ago, he says Antti Laukkanenone of the founders of Galipette Cidre.
Galipette specializes in authentic French ciders. To those with nothing but an apple. According to Laukkanen, the best sign of genuine cider is that it is made 100 percent from apples. There is no added sugar or sweeteners in the drink. These ciders are far from sweet limo ciders.
Cider requires its own kind of apple variety. Adobe Stock / AOP
Even beer lovers are surprised when they taste real cider.
– I hear a lot from new consumers that I usually don’t drink cider, but this is good, I could drink this, Laukkanen laughs.
Both the Nordic countries and Great Britain are big cider markets. Sales of limo cider have been declining for several years, and craft cider is growing. This phenomenon is contrary to the development of the entire other cider category.
Swedish Kopparsberg once made sweet cider a hit in Finland as well. It appealed especially to younger consumers.
Laukkanen and the other two founders of the company have spent a lot of time in northwestern France, where cider made with more than a hundred-year-old methods still belongs on the dinner table. Traditionally, it is drunk with crepes, i.e. stuffed flatbreads.
Clarity was wanted for the label of the Galipette bottle, so that it stands out on the store shelf. Galipette
In France, the men realized that both in Finland and in other markets, there is very little high-quality craft cider available.
– This great drink deserves to be seen by the world and people deserve to get to know it. We began to investigate the production and actors in more detail. We found an apple cooperative founded in 1953 as a partner. They have been making cider for a long time and grow 250 different apple varieties, all of which are cider apples.
According to Laukkanen, even the smell of cider takes you to the apple orchards of Normandy.
– You can already taste the region from which the apples in the cider come. It’s the same as in wines, the soil tastes good.
Crepe and cider are a traditional combination. In the Brittany region, cider is drunk from a ceramic cup. Adobe Stock / AOP
Laukkanen knows that not everyone likes French cider, but his faith in consumers is strong.
Another region specializing in craft ciders is Great Britain. However, the production of French and English cider is different.
The fermentation process in French cider is wild, it is not manipulated in any way. Fermentation takes several weeks or even months, which guarantees that the taste, aroma and color of the real apple are preserved in the drink. British ciders have more alcohol and are drier than French ciders.
The cider-making process is close to wine, but Laukkanen characterizes the drink as suitable for the same situations as beer: at the dinner table, in the sauna, with friends, at a barbecue – but you don’t put ice in a beer glass, ice is suitable for cider.
Authentic artisanal ciders are also produced in Finland. Galipette
Just a little for export
There are approx. 1,500 cider producers in France, but measured by sales volume, approx. 85% of French cider is in the hands of four large industrial producers (Ecusson, Loïc Raison, Kerisac and Celliers Associé).
The rest are more or less small producers.
Of the French cider sold in France, 43% is from Brittany and 32% is from Normandy. The remaining 25% from, among others, the Loire Valley, the Savoy region and the French Basque Country.
About 10% of French cider is exported, and of this, about 95% are ciders from large producers. Very few craft ciders are exported outside of France.