Grades of Quality
The age on the bottle refers to the youngest constituent of the blend. A blend is often composed of old and young calvados. Producers can also use the terms below to refer to the age.
- "Fine", "Trois étoiles ***", "Trois pommes"—at least two years old.
- "Vieux"—"Réserve"—at least three years old.
- "V.O." "VO", "Vieille Réserve", "V.S.O.P." "VSOP"—at least four years old.
- "Extra", "X.O." "XO", "Napoléon", "Hors d'Age" "Age Inconnu"—at least six years old. Often sold much older.
High quality calvados usually has parts which are much older than that mentioned. Calvados can be made from a single (generally, exceptionally good) year. When this happens, the label often carries that year.
Read more about this topic: Calvados (brandy)
Famous quotes containing the words grades of, grades and/or quality:
“There are no grades of vanity, there are only grades of ability in concealing it.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“Kindliness seems to exist primarily as an animal instinct, so deeply rooted that mental degeneracy, which works from the top down, does not destroy it until the mind sinks to the lower grades of idiocy.”
—Charles Horton Cooley (1864–1929)
“Recent studies that have investigated maternal satisfaction have found this to be a better prediction of mother-child interaction than work status alone. More important for the overall quality of interaction with their children than simply whether the mother works or not, these studies suggest, is how satisfied the mother is with her role as worker or homemaker. Satisfied women are consistently more warm, involved, playful, stimulating and effective with their children than unsatisfied women.”
—Alison Clarke-Stewart (20th century)