The secrets of french gin
A little berry for a big gin.
To make gin, you first need juniper berries. Since they provide the aromatic base of the gin, their quality is very important.
That’s why we grow our own juniper trees according to the most natural methods. We are also in the process of obtaining our first organic certification.
2500
9
9
100%
Juniper Trees
Charentais stills
Hectares of junipers
Tasty
19 botanicals, one at a time. Gin wouldn’t really be gin without the aromatics that enhance the fundamental juniper berries.
There are 19 botanicals, including lemon and many delicious exotic spices. For the aromatics to deliver all their flavors, infusion time and temperatures must be individually adapted to each botanical. This is called progressive infusion and it is how our gin achieves its perfect balance.
Progressive infusion
Created by Alexandre Gabriel for Citadelle Gin, this original process allows each flavor in the gin to be infused according to its aromatic composition.
It sounds complex, but it’s the same principle as a pot of tea: if you remove the teabag too quickly, the tea has no taste, and if you leave it too long, it’s too strong.
The same is true with aromatics. The effectiveness of the meticulous process has been scientifically proven, and a patent granted to Alexandre Gabriel’s development of this exclusive technique.
To this day, it is the only patent ever granted for a method of infusing gin. Not bad, right?
Distilling at the château.
Our own team of workers built our distillery at the Château de Bonbonnet.
Manu and his team used local stone throughout. Our nine stills are also from the Charente region and the biggest even has a nickname: the Rocky! Thanks to a network of pipes in the basement, the heat generated by the stills is recovered to heat the compound of buildings, especially the new greenhouse where we will grow our own lemon trees.
Heritage & avant-garde.
In the past, gins were transported by boat, in various types of wood barrels. Our historical research inspired us to bring the practice of ageing gin in barrels back to life.
And since we love to experiment with new ways to revive traditional practices, we had a giant (2.45 meters high!) egg-shaped vat built.
It enables us to blend our gins, aged in different types of wood, so they form a perfectly harmonious whole.
