It is always a moving moment for us to make you discover a «French nugget» and its know-how through rare products of great quality. The Combier distillery, located in the Loire Valley, is one of these discreet gems.
Against all odds, the oldest distillery in the Loire Valley is still in activity. It was here, in 1834, that the famous “Triple Sec”, “The Original Combier orange liqueur”, was created and developed by Jean-Baptiste Combier.
Cointreau, a distillery located 60 km downstream, later created a similar version of the liqueur, which became his trademark.
Thanks to its location at the centre of the Garden of France, i.e. the Loire Valley, the Distillery is able to source local produce: fruit, flowers – the famous roses from Doué-la-Fontaine, “The Rose Capital of France” – and aromatic plants, as well as benefiting from the arrival of exotic fruits and spices via the Loire.
Throughout its history of almost two centuries, its master distillers who were at the same time travelers, gardeners, cooks, engineers and audacious and innovative thinkers, have never ceased to create new elixirs constituting an exceptional French heritage, recognized since 2016 by the Living Heritage Company label.
The distillery now produces a wide range of liqueurs, syrups and alcohol-free syrups; and also Guignolet d’Anjou and Angevin soups, regional specialties of which the Saumur distillery is the cradle.
But the distillery is not resting on its laurels. In addition to its classic, historic products, – as the famous Triple Sec liqueur, the Elixir Combier, an exceptional digestive liqueur that marked the century and ensured the reputation of the distillery – one thing is certain: since Mr. Choisne bought it in 2000, the distillery has shown unparalleled inventiveness and quickly attracted attention.
A lover of fruit, spices and plants, Franck Choisne, Master Distiller and owner of the distillery, scours the Loire region – and the world when the products demand it – and, like the Combier family before him, is committed to rigorous selection. As guarantor of the authenticity and quality of the raw materials and master of the distillery’s rare know-how, he creates signature products with inimitable length and balance on the palate.
It was Bruno Quenioux, the famous Parisian wine merchant who was a pioneer in promoting organic wines, and who was hired by the Galeries Lafayette to create their wine space on the Champs Elysées, who told us his admiration for the creative genius of the “Master of places”.
Among others, his Gin Meridor, the First London Dry Gin created in the Loire Valley, which immediately won numerous awards; his Marie-Antoinette Vodka, whose raw material, an old variety of wheat, is produced on the estate of the Château de Versailles; and his famous Absinthe ‘L’Entêté’, for which he fought to restore its letters of nobility. And for the legal possibility of producing it again since it was banned in 1915, at a much lower alcohol content.
We will present them to you one by one in our next posts. Dr FX.
