Our Secret
A small Berry for a Great Gin
To craft gin, you need juniper berries first. They are what give gin its distinctive aromatic foundation.
At Citadelle Gin, some of our berries come from our own juniper fields, located right across from our distillery. We hand-pick each berry once a year and also cultivate a certified organic wild parcel.
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Juniper Trees
Charentais stills
Hectares of junipers
Tasty
But Citadelle Gin wouldn’t be Citadelle without the 18 other botanicals that accompany the juniper berries—our star ingredient!
To preserve the virtues of the juniper berries and ensure the lemon zest releases all its flavors, both the timing and infusion temperatures must be precise. Through our patented “progressive infusion” process, our gin reaches its perfect balance.
Progressive infusion
Citadelle is the first gin in the world to patent its progressive infusion technique with decreasing alcohol levels, a process used for Citadelle Original gin.
This unique method adjusts both the maceration time and alcohol strength for each of the 19 botanicals in the recipe, allowing the flavors to be perfectly balanced.
It’s a true artisan’s approach, designed to preserve the full organoleptic qualities of each berry, spice, and citrus, capturing their ultimate fragrance in every drop.
A Distillery that honors its legacy
While the plans for the distillery were conceived and designed by Alexandre Gabriel, the creator and Master Distiller of Citadelle Gin, the actual construction was carried out by the Château’s teams at the Château.
Over 30,000 hours of skilled craftsmanship went into this project, with artisans working meticulously to honor the region’s architectural heritage.
To accommodate the entire distillation equipment, we recreated majestic stone arches while preserving the building’s original style, some reaching heights of over eight meters!
Today, we proudly operate nine hand-restored copper stills that slowly distill our Citadelle Gin.
Additionally, the Citadelle Gin distillery features an Orangerie, home to a diverse array of lemon and orange trees used in the production of our gins. We also cultivate various aromatic plants for experimenting with future innovations…
The Revival of Aged Gin
Citadelle is the first gin brand in the world to revive the tradition of aged gins, commonly known as “yellow gins,” with its Citadelle Gin Réserve.
This exceptional gin undergoes a five-month maturation in barrels made from acacia, mulberry, cherry, chestnut, and French oak. Following this aging process, it experiences an additional maturation in a unique 2.45-meter-tall egg-shaped cask! This innovative technique sets Citadelle apart, making it the only French spirit to utilize such a distinctive aging process.
