Christian Drouin senior became the owner of the Fiefs SainteAnne on the Gonneville hills, near Honfleur. The farm was planted with cider-apple trees and Christian was soon seized by the desire to produce his own calvados. Christian was both rigorous and enterprising: with the help of Pierre Pivet, a licensed distiller well known in the northern part of the Pays d'Auge, he spent the first twenty years distilling his cider production. The resulting calvados was set aside to age in former sherry, port or calvados casks stored in the old half-timbered outbuildings of the farm. He also acquired several batches of very old calvados when the estates of some reputed producers were sold. Christian Drouin senior won his first medals in regional competitions and in Paris.
Christian Drouin junior went into partnership with his father, but it was only in 1979 that stocks were considered sufficient to allow marketing to begin. Christian Drouin junior had spent almost ten years abroad, so he naturally decided to give the business an international orientation. Against the background of the «coffee and calva» culture, and in a sector still highly regionalized and dominated by sales of young calvados, Christian envisaged a quite different future for his spirits. He was fascinated by the art of aging and, with the benefit of the stocks produced by his father, he specialized in the production of the rarest and oldest calvados that he was soon delivering to the world's great hotels and finest restaurants. In 1991-92, to meet the need for more space generated by the success of the firm, he transferred production to another 17th-century farm in CoudrayRabut near Pont l'Evèque.
The third generation joined the firm. Guillaume Drouin trained as an agricultural engineer and winemaker. He devoted his first five years in the business to developing exports before taking over production management and then general management of the company in 2013. Today the blends are still created jointly by Guillaume and his father, who also share responsibility for the export markets.
Christian Drouin junior went into partnership with his father, but it was only in 1979 that stocks were considered sufficient to allow marketing to begin. Christian Drouin junior had spent almost ten years abroad, so he naturally decided to give the business an international orientation. Against the background of the «coffee and calva» culture, and in a sector still highly regionalized and dominated by sales of young calvados, Christian envisaged a quite different future for his spirits. He was fascinated by the art of aging and, with the benefit of the stocks produced by his father, he specialized in the production of the rarest and oldest calvados that he was soon delivering to the world's great hotels and finest restaurants. In 1991-92, to meet the need for more space generated by the success of the firm, he transferred production to another 17th-century farm in CoudrayRabut near Pont l'Evèque.
The third generation joined the firm. Guillaume Drouin trained as an agricultural engineer and winemaker. He devoted his first five years in the business to developing exports before taking over production management and then general management of the company in 2013. Today the blends are still created jointly by Guillaume and his father, who also share responsibility for the export markets.
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Christian Drouin
