“This is a winemaker’s gin”, says François Lurton with a smile, with this phrase

pointing up the aromatic expression of his distillate. In a marked contrast to most gins – which are traditionally based upon production from a base of grain or potatoes – Lurton prefers to distil Sauvignon Blanc from Gascony in the southwest of France. And in doing this, he brings a vibrantly fresh aromaticity into the basic distillate.

Working together with his partner Sabine Jaren, François has now developed a particularly fine blend of botanicals: grapefruit zest, lemon, violets, gorse, lime-zest and redcurrant buds.

Sabine Jaren and François Lurton then blend these botanicals with the distillate of Sauvignon Blanc, to imbue the spirit with an impressive panoply of aromatics. Juniper, conversely, is not added in its pure form, but rather as a distillate, in order to avoid masking the delicate notes of the Sauvignon Blanc.

The partners have christened their new creation Sorgin, playing linguistically on an old word from Sabine Jaren’s ancestral home in the Basque region: a sorgin or sorgina is a sorceress, a woman with particular supernatural qualities and the ability of retaining joy and energy throughout the night. It embodies the spirit of festivity and moments of sharing.

Sorgin, which François Lurton also calls his ‘Gin of Bordeaux’, made its market debut just a few weeks ago.

Sorgin is now available from Sorgin Ltd www.sorgin.fr