Merlet Lune d’Abricot, Apricot Brandy Liqueur 25%

Merlet Lune d’Abricot is an Apricot Brandy Liqueur made by Merlet Distillery in Saint Suivant whose headquarters are located to the north east of the town of Cognac.

Merlet can trace their history back to  In 1850 when Firmin Merlet set up his first still just outside the village of Saint Sauvant in the region of Saintonge to distill his own harvests and produce his own Cognac. Today the family own 40 hectares of vineyards in Saint Sauvant and Chérac. The family built a new cellar in Cherac which was inaugurated in 2014 – it is here that all of the fruit macerations for the liqueurs and the blending of all spirits now takes place. When Gilles Merlet took over the distillery in 1973, the context was difficult for Cognac and planting new vines on the family plots no longer an option. It was Gilles that took the decision to diversify by planting blackcurrants to produce Creme de Cassis de Saintonge. His Crème de Cassis de Saintonge was quickly followed by a complete range of fruit liqueurs, now widely acclaimed. Since 2015, there even is a Geographical Indication (GI) Crème de Cassis de Saintonge, with its own legal specifications.

Merlet Lune d’Abricot is made from carefully selected different varieties of apricots from partner producers in the Roussillon to guarantee consistent quality. The apricots are soaked in pure alcohol with some of their kernels to extract all their flavours, then pressed and filtered. This natural fruit infusion is then blended with a little bit of young Cognac for more depth and complexity, before sugar is added to obtain the final liqueur. Complete control of every stages of the process, from sourcing the fruits and selecting only the ripest to their transformation by Merlet, together with the very high concentration of macerated fruits, convert this brandy, made according to an exclusive recipe, into a product of many uses.