The military history and culinary traditions of Normandy, France meet in a tasteful and secretive enclave behind the walls of a 12th-century castle, a short distance from D-Day landmarks Omaha Beach and Pointe du Hoc.
Bernard Lebrec makes some of Normandy’s most spectacular cider and a spirited calvados — apple brandy — in his family farmhouse in the village of Englesqueville-la-Percee.
He serves samples of his spirits, chased by shots of World War II lore, to guests from around the world. His stone-walled tasting room doubles as a small museum containing artifacts from D-Day.
The long-awaited liberation of Europe erupted dramatically around the Lebrec home and apple orchards 80 years ago, on June 6, 1944.
“My uncle is a passionate man,” said Jonathan Emblanc of Lebrec’s devotion to his culinary craft and to D-Day lore, in a phone interview with Fox News Digital.
Emblanc has added new flavor to the experience.
He recently opened L’Ephemere restaurant in the shadow of the turret of the 12th-century castle. The Lebrec family has owned the property since 1922.
American troops heroically stormed ashore on Omaha Beach, about two miles east of the Lebrec farmhouse, under deadly fire on what’s gone down in history as “The Longest Day.”
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The scene of carnage at Omaha Beach was graphically replayed for more recent audiences in the powerful 1998 World War II epic, “Saving Private Ryan.”
Pointe du Hoc is even closer, about one mile to the west. Elite U.S. Army Rangers scaled the sheer face of the jutting oceanfront cliff with ladders and ropes attached to grappling hooks.
German defenders shot at and dropped grenades on the dauntless American Rangers from above.
President Ronald Reagan captured the heroism of the day in his soaring “Boys of Pointe du Hoc” speech on June 6, 1984, the 40th anniversary of D-Day.
“When one Ranger fell, another would take his place. When one rope was cut, a Ranger would grab another and begin his climb again,” Reagan said, standing atop the cliff, with surviving Rangers seated in front of him.
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“These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc. These are the men who took the cliffs. These are the champions who helped free a continent.”
The Lebrec family has owned its nearby farmhouse since 1922. Its castle and adjoining apple orchards were caught in the deadly crossfire of D-Day.
American liberators chased out the Germans who had occupied the Lebrec farmhouse for the previous several years.
The U.S. Army’s 147th Combat Engineer Battalion, among the units that waded ashore on Omaha Beach, quickly swooped in and turned the castle into a command post.
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The engineers plowed down the Lebrec apple trees with stunning speed. Within days, the family’s fruited orchard became an airfield for American combat aircraft. The warplanes helped drive the liberators further inland as the Germans retreated.
A monument dedicated to the engineers of the 147th stands proudly in the sprawling yard of the Lebrec home, within its medieval walls.
American and Allied troops pushed further inland in the deadly Battle of Normandy that followed D-Day, often celebrating victories by popping open bottles of the local liquid specialties.
France is famous for its wine.
But Normandy, a coastal province in the nation’s extreme northwestern corner, is generally too cold to cultivate sun-nourished grapes. So Norman farmers grow apples.
Normandy cuisine is similar to that of another seaside region across the Atlantic, New England. Fresh seafood, dairy and apples traditionally flavor the local food in both parts of the world.
Distillers such as Lebrec, and many others across Normandy, turn those apples into a rustic, highly effervescent hard cider.
It’s spontaneously fermented in the bottle, much like champagne, and filled with plenty of terroir, earthy flavors that reflect the local soil and climate.
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Terroir in Normandy, at least in the rural oceanfront area around Omaha Beach, means barnyard aromas with hints of cut hay and the ever-present salty reminder that the sea is just beyond the next field.
Norman cider is different than British, Irish or American mass-produced ciders, that lean sweet and are less sparkly.
The Norman version is true farmhouse cider, served from a corked bottle. it tastes and spritzes like apple-flavored champagne.
Most Norman distillers also make calvados, an aromatic but bracing apple spirit, and pommeau, a refreshing apéritif. It’s a blend of calvados and apple juice.
Calvados is not just the name of the Norman brandy.
It’s actually the name of the region of Normandy that witnessed most of the fighting on D-Day, including Omaha Beach.
Calvados, the spirit, is made in Calvados, the region, much like champagne is made in Champagne.
The Lebrec family’s new restaurant L’Ephemere, meanwhile, pairs global flavors with local Norman traditions.
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