Many years ago a friend gave me some fermented apple cider from Normandy, saying that I might like it. That, and the manner in which he narrated stories of apples and the local culture became a reason why I wanted to visit Normandy. A few years later, when I arrived there, my first meal - dinner at a small countryside bed and breakfast – much to my excitement, started with a bottle of local cidre, fermented cider made from the pressed juice of local apples. This remained the drink of choice instead of wine.