G'Vine Nouaison Gin Reserve (50cl, 42%)

Nouaison Gin Reserve is a cask-aged French gin from G'Vine, made in the Cognac area in a 50cl bottle at 42% abv. It is flavoured with 14 herbs and spices and rests in Cognac casks from Domaine Le Pérat. The base spirit is made from grapes rather than grain. Mainly Ugni Blanc is used, with some Chardonnay and Viognier, and green-harvested grapes join the botanicals. The gin is batch-distilled in a 250-litre Charentais still. Its name, Nouaison, is the French word for fruit set, when flowers give way to the first small grapes. Juniper is intense, alongside bergamot, prune, black Java pepper and vetiver with a slightly grassy note. It can be sipped neat or over ice, and suits a gin and tonic, a dry martini or a Negroni.