Attribut N°1

Fresh kiwi is a strange thing to distil. Its aroma is delicate and its acidity is high, and both are easily destroyed by heat, so putting it into a still at all is a decision that has to be protected by everything else in the process. Grand Nez Spirits does it in southwest France, on twelve fresh botanicals and organic wheat spirit, at 43%.

Citrus · Organic · Dry · Fruity · Herbal

The protection comes from the equipment and the pace. A traditional Charentais copper still run slowly, then reduction with pure water and nothing else, is about as gentle a route as a fruit that fragile can be given. What survives is softness and a certain roundness mid-palate rather than a recognisable kiwi flavour, which is the honest description of what the fruit is doing here.

Around it, the aromatics are bright and green. Lemon verbena lifts the nose with a lemony, herbal note that owes nothing to actual citrus, and fresh lemon and orange zest supply the citrus proper. Coriander seed adds a clean spice. Chamomile works alongside the kiwi at the softer end, apple-scented and faintly honeyed, and those two between them are what round the middle. Juniper holds a clean, spicy backbone through all of it, as a London DryLondon DryA style, not a place of origin: every flavour comes from distilling natural botanicals. After distillation only water and a trace of sugar may be added, with no flavouring or colouring.GlossarySee London Dry gins requires.

The finish is crisp and delicately bitter, citrus and herbs lingering. It goes with citrus-based dishes, smoked salmon, aged cheese or a light dessert, and the house is unusually specific about that. Multiple golds internationally. Organic throughout, with the sourcing published rather than implied. Twelve fresh botanicals instead of dried is the other cost this house accepts, and freshness is precisely why the verbena and the chamomile register as clearly as they do rather than flattening into a general herbal impression.