Citadelle, Gin de France

Maison Ferrand is the result of the encounter in 1989 between Alexandre Gabriel and one of the oldest wine growing families in the Cognac region. Alexandre Gabriel’s intention was to breathe new life into Maison Ferrand and make it the world’s best cognac. He wanted to maintain age-old, craft-based production methods which were worlds apart from mass production techniques, and sought to bring back to market the true expression of Grande Champagne’s – known as Cognac’s finest region – great terroir.

In 1996, Alexandre created Citadelle Gin, the Gin de France, spearheading the movement for French gins. Due to strict regulations imposed by Cognac’s appellation d’origine contrôlée (AOC), Alexandre Gabriel was obliged to stop using his cognac stills for seven months of the year. After five long years of negotiations, he obtained the AOC authorisation to distill gin during the period that the stills were usually dormant, giving the traditional copper pot stills new life and purpose.