Merlet Creme de Cassis Liqueur

About

The family’s 40 hectares of vineyards are divided between Saint Sauvant and Chérac. Le Droguet, in Chérac, was bought by the Merlets in 1936. It once belonged to Baron Otard (of the cognac of the same name). At the heart of Borderies, vineyards, blackcurrant fields and woods surround the family house.

The village of Saint Sauvant is Merlet’s haven. The distillery was built at L’aumônerie de Chevessac in 1850. The old family property now houses Merlet’s offices, a short walk from the 12th century Romanesque church that proudly towers over the village.

Since 2015, Merlet Creme de Cassis Liqueur (Crème de cassis de Saintonge) holds the Geographical Indication status, in recognition of a unique 30-years expertise in growing blackcurrants and turning them into liqueur. The Charentais terroir imparts unique properties to the Noir de Bourgogne variety, naturally rustic, and limits its yields. The harvested berries are small, but very rich. The berries are soaked in pure alcohol to extract all their flavors, then pressed and filtered. Sugar is added to this natural fruit infusion to obtain the Crème de cassis. Complete control of every stages of the process, from the cultivation and harvest of the fruits at their ripest to their transformation by Merlet, guarantees, together with the very high concentration of macerated fruits, the intensity and complexity of the final product.

Merlet Creme de Cassis Liqueur is enjoyed on the rocks, with soda water or in the French tradition with wine or Champagne.

Tasting Notes

NOSE: Ripe cassis. Bold spices, mint, tobacco and pepper notes.

PALATE: Supple, lightly syrupy palate and an explosively tangy and pure cassis fruit.

FINISH: Long and delicious.