Organic apple and pear ciders that showcase concentration, nuance and incredible depth: gorgeous vessels of the terroir and traditions of Normandy.
Benoît and I connected a few years ago, as his bottles started popping up at many of the “cool kid” wine bars around Paris. It turns out that he was starting a very busy time in his life – starting his own Paris-based wine agency while honing his craft back home, making some of the most singular and delicious ciders we’ve ever tasted.
During the day, Benoît runs his own wine merchant company in Paris, selling wines of some of the great, organic-farming vignerons of regions like the Loire, Burgundy and Champagne. He started his own agency at the same time that I was starting The Road, so we had a lot to chat about! With particularly close relationships to organic winegrowing families in Champagne, Benoît has the opportunity to harvest with them each year, learning the art of traditional sparkling winemaking, including the intricate blending and organic farming that he directly employs for his own ciders and orchards. All the while, he was regularly traveling back home to Normandy to take over his family’s orchards – not only maintaining the farming, but converting to fully organic practices. As of 2023, he is officially Certified Organic.
“On May 28, 1967, Elizabeth II, Queen of England dined at “Le Caneton” in Orbec, where my grandfather’s cider was served with the specialty: pressed duck.”
Benoît is the third generation to farm apples around the town of La Folletière-Abenon in the Pays d’Auge region (known for Calvados!), on chalk and clay-dominant soils. His grandfather acquired an apple orchard and farm in 1962 and began making his own cider. Famously, his very first cider was selected to serve to Queen Elizabeth during one of her visits to the region in the late 1960s – with canard (duck): the inspiration for the Lesuffleur labels today. Decades later, Benoît began the Domaine Lesuffleur label in 2012/13 and credits his lifelong education in cider-making to his grandfather, whom he was very close with, and who passed away just a couple of years ago. Like his grandfather, Ben uses a range of heritage apple and pear varieties that are bitter, bittersweet and tannic – each playing a part in the complex blends that he makes.
In total, the family’s orchards are 20 ha of over 40 types of heritage apple and pear varieties. The trees are up to and over 100 years old. In fact, Benoît makes a cider (in the tiniest quantities) made from one tree that is over 200 years old. And surprise... it’s absolutely gorgeous and incredibly structured. Overall, production is very small; only 15,000 bottles are made. On the cider-making side, everything is hand-harvested and fermentations are all spontaneous with indigenous yeasts. Fermentations are done through Méthode Champagnoise and the resulting cider ages sur lie for a minimum of 12 months. Benoît’s goal is to make the best and most pure expressions of cider: he wants them to be taken as seriously as a fine wine, and crafts them to showcase the terroir of this historic region. The result is gorgeous, vinous ciders with real depth and concentration – like wine, they display structure, expression and purity that speak to the quality of the fruit that make them.
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Domaine Lesuffleur: In the Orchards
Benoît has not only taken over his family’s orchards in the village of La Folletière-Abenon, in Normandy – he’s also been in the process of converting them to full organics for the health and longevity of the land. His work is paying off… the Lesuffleur orchards are Certified Organic as of 2023! In total, the Lesuffleur estate consists of about 20 hectares across two orchards:
La Folletière (Certified Organic)
12 hectares of low-stem apple trees planted by Benoit's father. LA FOLLETIÈRE (since 2012): vintage raw cider, blend of fifteen varieties of apples from the orchard of the same name. Currently in the final year of organic conversion; will be Certified Organic in 2023.
Friardel (Certified Organic)
6-7 hectares and is made up of tall apple trees planted by Benoit's grandfather and comprising 30 to 35 varieties of apples. FRIARDEL (since 2013): vintage raw cider, blend of 30-35 varieties of apples from the orchard of the same name. Currently in the process of being converted to organic (will be Certified Organic in 2023), this orchard has around 15 varieties of apples.