Calvados is not a well-known alcohol in the Baltic states, a few bottles can be found in major stores and they are usually products from one, large manufacturer. Pere Preaux is one of the cheapest products in the Baltic market. It is sold in Latvia, where the Latvian branch of Altia Finland has imported it. They have got it for very comprehensive distribution, including most of the grocery stores. There is no correct information for this product. However, the traces go to the French company Slaur Sardet, which specializes in the production and distribution of various alcohols. What they have in common is that they are efficiently produced in large quantities and sold in grocery stores, mostly at a very cheap price. Pere Preaux Fine is a VS level Calvados, matured in oak barrels for at least two years. A 70 cl bottle cost 13 euros in a regular grocery store in Latvia.

The nose has fermented apple juice, just like apple cider fermented with wild yeast. The taste is dry, very sharp and pungent. The cidery, fermented apple-juice flavor is on top, with a bit of woody aroma in the background. The aftertaste is dry, bitter and short. The problem with Pere Preaux is its very sharp and alcoholic burn. This is indeed a young distillate. The taste is like condensed, rather bitter apple cider. It is too sharp to sip neat and the strong taste of fermented apple juice is pushed through most of the drinks I made. I haven’t tasted very many Calvados in my life, but Pere Preaux is the worst of them. Based on that product, you’ll probably leave that genre for this one bottle. So I do not recommend buying this for your first Calvados. 

70/100