Cider Musings

France


Dieppe

Cider apples arrived in Normandy and NW France from Spain.

The drinking of cider and especially perry in France, a historian from Lisieux, Mr. Louis Du Bois tells us, dates back to the late 6th or early 7th century.

"These drinks passed, before the invasion of the Moors, from Africa to Spain and Biscay (Spanish Basque country). It was from these regions that the ancient seafarers of Dieppe brought back the best varieties of apple and pear trees then known".

The arrival of these first grafts enriched the Norman genotype with its abundant varieties of crab-apple trees. Normandy gave a home to these trees with a natural environment favourable to their development in terms of soil and climate, and over the years growing them became a source of wealth.