Bordiga Occitan Gin 1L

Bordiga Occitan Gin comes from Distillery Bordiga, founded in 1888 in Cuneo, in the Piedmont region of northern Italy, by Pietro Bordiga, a passionate herbalist and bartender based in nearby Turin. Bordiga first made his name developing a recipe for Vermouth di Torino that quickly won favor among the city's cafes and bars, and he built his distillery around that success, choosing Cuneo partly for its proximity to the Alps and to his family's roots in the Valle Grana. Gin followed in 1889, and this expression still uses that original recipe today. Its name comes from Occitan, a language still spoken in isolated Alpine valleys near the French border where many of the gin's botanicals are gathered.

The gin centers on wild juniper hand-picked in the Maritime Alps, foraged between roughly 500 and 1700 meters, with most growth above 800 meters, where the combination of altitude and maritime influence concentrates the berries' essential oils. Alongside juniper, the recipe uses angelica, cardamom, coriander, and orange and lemon peel, with each botanical macerated separately in triple-distilled grain alcohol before being distilled, including a vapor infusion of the citrus peels. The finished gin is bottled at 42 percent alcohol by volume.

The nose delivers a classic juniper lift, fragrant and cut through with cardamom and distinct orange and lemon rind. On the palate, the botanicals show remarkable clarity and purity, giving the gin both a clean, classic backbone and a distinct individual character. It carries enough finesse and detail to hold up in a stirred cocktail while remaining versatile for mixed drinks.