Spiced London Cocktail

Sitting in a roof-top bar overlooking the bustling city of London, you lean back with this Cocktail in your hand and for a moment, you think that the city could be yours, that it could be conquered, and with flavours like this in your glass, could it be done?

The Sparkling Wine – Martinčič

The Martinčič family vineyard’s wine and cane growing farm is located in Šmalčja Vas near Šentjernej in the beautiful wine country of Slovenia.

Going back more than one hundred years, their ancestors planted the first vineyard and realized that the Dolenjska soil and sky give the vine a special home, allowing the winemaker to create their Wine and Sparkling Wines.

Their farm is open to the public, for visits and tastings, you can tour their cellar where their award-winning wines and Sparkling Wines mature, they can welcome up to 50 people at a time.

The name for their Quattro Momenti Sparkling Wine was gifted to the Sparkling Wine by their four girls, containing all the poetry of their vineyards.

Martinčič – Quattro Momenti – Extra Brut – Tasting Notes

Aroma – “Calming aroma of almond, apricots, green apples and white floral on the aroma, it warmly wraps itself around you and divinely welcomes you in.”

Flavour – “Crisp dry green fruity characters, with herbal notes and a white floral touch, this Sparkling Wine would pair very nicely with cheese and various slices of meat.”

Silver Medal in the Meditation Category at the Glass of Bubbly Awards 2022

The Gin – Gin de Charente

Distilled in the heart of Cognac country, Gin de Charente uses the same methods that local Cognac Houses have used for generations, they choose the finest botanicals from locally picked melon to exotic spices from Eastern Asia.

I reached out to Patrick Lenehan, CEO of Gin de Charente to ask him What was the inspiration behind the creation of Gin de Charente?

“Back in 2017 I had a house in France and originally the idea was to retire there. However, before Brexit, I was trying to find a way to make some money while in France. I looked at a number of options and finally discovered that Cognac can legally only be distilled for 6 months of the year. This meant that the stills or alambics as they call them would be unused for 6 months. I came up with the bright idea of asking some local producers if I could hire their stills for a few months every year in their down period. It didn’t seem to go down too well. Producers were worried their stills would get tainted with botanicals, some thought I was trying to do some kind of tax scam.

“Eventually, as a last resort, I spoke to a commercial producer. He deals in tens of thousands of litres with companies and makes a range of spirits. We seemed to get on well and so he took me to his distillery and showed me around his site, which is massive. However, he did have what he considered to be a small still in a small building which he said I could use.

“We started producing the London Dry. Somebody offered me a Bourbon barrel and suggested it might work as a cask gin. I tried it but it didn’t appear to be too successful at first. I then tried using Cognac barrels from the local barrel maker. He re-toasted them and that worked really well within about 3 months. Eventually, after about a year, the Bourbon barrel started to give its flavour to the gin so we bottled that as well.” – Patrick Lenehan, CEO of Gin de Charente

Gin de Charente – London Dry Batch – Tasting Notes – “Prominent juniper, with herbal notes of coriander, basil and mixed herbs, with notes of cardamom, liquorice and sweet melon.”

The Cocktail – Spiced London

Ingredients

• Sparkling Wine
• London Dry Gin
• Thyme
• Basil
• Coriander
• Bay Leaf

How To Make The Spiced London Cocktail

• Pour in 15mls of London Dry Gin
• Top up with 100mls of Sparkling Wine
• Place in a Twig of Thyme
• Then A Bay Leaf
• And Sprinkle in some Basil and Coriander

Spiced London Cocktail Tasting Notes

Aroma – “Herbs and a touch of spice, thyme, basil and coriander shine through in a comforting fashion, along with notes of liquorice on the aroma.”

Flavour – “Passionate in character with rich dry herbal and zesty characters, with zesty limes, lemons, gooseberry and green apple, herbal notes of basil, coriander and thyme which combine with an exotic display of spices, including cardamom, with a background of green juicy apple flesh.”