Génépy is a legendary alpine herbal liqueur, unique to the Savoy region, that dates back many hundreds of years. While comprised of a multitude of alpine herbs, the most prominent is a petite and rare variety of artemisia found principally in the high mountain air and adventure. Dolin is one of the few remaining houses that still relies on local herbs foraged in summer, and distillation in a venerable old copper alembic. Today, Génépy remains a darling of both intrepid hikers and French skiers. Served on the rocks or with tonic water, and a welcome addition to hot chocolate. Le Chamois is Dolin’s oldest Génépy recipe, dating back to 1821, when Joseph Chavasse first established what is today Maison Dolin. Its gentle sweetness and heady herbal character have pronounced notes of chamomile, sage and mint. To many French consumers, the Dolin name is inextricably linked to this signature Génépy recipe and the alpine experience.

Outside of the core range, there’s always something interesting to taste when you visit Chandon de Briailles—be it François de Nicolay’s négoce sans soufre wines, or something like Christian Knott’s skin-fermented La Vie est Belle. Even so, we were a little surprised to be presented with this Burgundian ‘Port’. This is drawn from late picked fruit in the very warm 2013’s harvest—mainly Savigny Lavières—where the fruit was picked extremely late (the end of October), crushed by foot, fermented and then fortified on skins (to 18.5%) using the Domaine’s own Fine de Bourgogne. The wine was then aged for five years in both topped and un-topped barrels before blending and bottling, with no SO2, in 2018. Pousse au Crime means to incite a crime, and this might certainly do that (by encouraging others to have a go at this wine style) as it’s absolutely delicious. The nose is packed with ripe plum, prune, coffee grinds and subtle, varnished oak leading to a silky, luscious, creamy, layered palate with similar notes—but mostly delicious characters of crushed raisins, milk chocolate and a long, warm and spicy close. Like a really, really fine Banyuls. Best served at cellar temperature with coffee and chocolate, but could also work with cheese and richer desserts (or, for the adventurous, a cleverly matched savoury course with the right sauce).

Naked Maraschino is an intense cherry liqueur that fuses traditional Italian Maraschino flavours with a smattering of Australian desert peaches. This luxurious liqueur is the result of over two years of experiments and trials. Many cherries were harmed in the process and White Possum make no apologies for their actions. Their final recipe goes something like this. First, they crush a ridiculous number of sour cherries into a paste, then slowly ferment the mixture over many weeks to extract those deep funky cherry flavours. This 'cherry wine' is then distilled in a pot still where we remove the sharp 'heads' and the lousy 'tails' of the distillate. From there, they let it rest and age in a small vat until the flavour mellows a little. Then they add a rich infusion of quandongs, a semi-sweet indigenous ‘peach’ that contributes a distinctly fruity aroma, and a couple of other herbs and roots before letting all the flavours rest further and marry together in harmony. Contains no artificial colours, flavours nor preservatives. All of White Possum's liqueurs, including Naked Maraschino, are bottled in recycled glass spirit bottles where possible. These bottles, harvested from a network of bars, are given a rough massage to strip the labels off, then a hardcore rinse, sanitisation and a polish before being revived with a new liqueur filled life.