Producer—François-Xavier Huet

François-Xavier Huet, the fifth generation director of the estate, is well-known in the community and is committed to serving his local clientele and neighbors. François-Xavier recently converted their Calvados pot still from oil-fueled to being fueled by apple wood chips from old orchard trees. 

Pierre Huet’s Manoir la Briere des Fontaine, is a family-owned estate, located in Normandy, in the heart of the Pays d’Auge, which has its own Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée (AOC). They are renowned throughout the region for their Calvados, cider, and pommeau. The Huet family has gained recognition worldwide for the subtle and delicate blends they produce after generations of distilling. 

Pierre Huet, one of the oldest Calvados estates in France, began producing fine Calvados and cider in the 1800s. Five generations later, the estate is led by the great, great grandson of Pierre, François-Xavier Huet. François-Xavier is a member of Espirit Calvados, which is a group of six young Calvados producers who have taken over their families’ orchards and strive to be innovators in their trade. Although he is always looking at his enterprise with a fresh perspective, François-Xavier holds the family’s 200-year-old Calvados traditions near to his heart, and continuously strives to meet the long standing expectations of his neighbors and clientele in Normandy.

Manoir la Briere des Fontaine has over 25 varieties of apples that grow on their 75 acres, combined with both Haute-tige (tall) and Basse-tige (esplanade) trees. The estate’s distillery has two stills: a pot still which is required for the AOC Calvados Pays d’Auge production, and a column still for the AOC Calvados production. In order to achieve more sustainable production, the Huet family uses wood apple chips from their orchard instead of oil to heat the stills, which is very innovative and unique in Normandy.