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Armagnac, Cognac, and Calvados are the three famous French spirits distilled from grapes.

Answer: False.

Armagnac and Cognac—yes. But Calvados—a specialty of the Normandy region of France—is distilled from apples (and sometimes pears). But not just any apples. Approximately eight hundred heirloom varieties of apples grow in Normandy. Of these, most Calvados producers would grow twenty to twenty-five different varieties, among them Douce Moën, Kermerrien, Douce Coet Ligne, Bédan, Binet Rouge, Fréquin Rouge, Marie Ménard, and Petit Jaune. (Alas, no Red Delicious.)

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