WE TRAVEL TO ITALY TO DISCOVER TWO ESSENTIAL COMPONENTS OF BOMBAY SAPPHIRE
Harvesting juniper berries is an arduous process, done without machinery.
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To see where Bombay Sapphire comes from, you would have to visit not just the distillery in England, but also Scotland (the base spirit), Spain (lemon peel, almonds), Italy (juniper berries and orris root), China (licorice), Saxony (angelica root), Morocco (coriander seeds), Indo-China (cassia bark), Java (cubeb berries), and West Africa (grains of paradise). A world tour to see all ten botanicals might be a tad bit ambitious, but THE TASTING PANEL was recently treated to a great start, learning more about this gin’s ingredients grown in Italy.
At a hillside villa overlooking the city of Florence, we met Ivano Tonutti, Master of Botanicals for Bombay Sapphire, who described some of the special qualities of the components used in the gin. Since he’s had the job, the provenance of the botanicals—listed right there on every bottle of Bombay Sapphire—has not changed. Tonutti assures the quality of the ingredients, actually rejecting 50 percent of the samples he receives each year.
One of the ways he insures quality is by purchasing ingredients from growers and harvesters directly, rather than on the open market. So off we were to meet those growers and harvesters in person.
Beating Around the Juniper Bush
After a long ride at Italian speeds through the gorgeous, winding, car-sickness-inducing roads of Tuscany, we arrive at our first destination: a hilly area covered with grass and wildflowers but not too many trees. There we found the sprawling, chest-high piney juniper bushes, and meet a husband and wife team who gather their berries for Bombay.
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Bombay Sapphire boasts ten rich botanicals, sourced from around the globe.
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Surprisingly, despite all the advantages of modern technology, juniper berries cannot be cultivated, nor is the harvest mechanized. The tools employed are humans, baskets and short sticks. These farmers have owned their baskets for 25 or 30 years. To harvest the juniper, they slide the baskets beneath a limb of the bush then whack it with a stick so that the berries fall off. As green unripe berries, ripe blue berries and dried up brown berries are present on the same bush at the same time, the harvesters must hit the bush with the appropriate force to remove only the ripe ones.
After harvest, the berries are packed in small bags and kept well-ventilated so that they don’t mold or clump. At the factory, the berries are sorted by a machine that can sense the color of the berries and discard any green ones. (A similar machine is used to sort coffee beans.) And then it’s into the gin they go.
Rooting Out Orris
After a downhill drive to roughly half the elevation of the juniper hills, we arrived at an iris farm. Here, purple-flowered irises grow between rows of olive trees in an idyllic sloped-hill setting. The small farm produces orris, olive oil and wine as well, using equipment from a nearby farmer’s collective.
Orris is the rhizome of the iris plant.
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Despite its common name, orris root is the rhizome of the iris plant, not its actual roots; somewhat similar in appearance to ginger root, the orris is located beneath the surface of the soil, between the stem and the roots. The irises used for Bombay Sapphire, while beautiful, are not grown for their esthetic quality but for the quality of their orris.
After a three-year growing cycle, the plants are pulled up, and the rhizome is cut off. A small portion is left attached to the stem of the plant, which is then replanted to grow again. Though sun-dried orris is used “as is” in some perfumes and other products, for Bombay Sapphire the orris is first peeled by hand using sharp, curved knives.
When raw, the orris root smells like a potato or mild onion—nothing much. Its gorgeous violet flavor comes only after drying, aging and extraction. Bombay Sapphire’s extraction method is to distill the orris, juniper and other ingredients by vapor infusion . . . but that process takes place at another time in another country. We’ve only seen how two of the ten botanicals in this world-class gin are harvested, and it’s already clear how much hard work goes into every bottle.
Bombay Sapphire is imported by Bacardi USA
A Classic Negroni in Florence
Florentine bartender Luca Picchi has studied the life of Cassoni Negroni, the Italian playboy for whom the great classic cocktail was invented around 1920. According to Picci, Negroni asked a bartender for something stronger than his usual Americano (Campari, sweet vermouth and soda water), so he replaced the Americano’s soda with gin and the Negroni was born.
The Negroni
as made by Luca Picchi, Caffè Rivoire, Florence
• 1 part gin
• 1 part Campari
• 1 part vermouth
• Chill a small tumbler glass by stirring it full of ice, then straining off any melted water. Into the ice-filled glass pour gin first, then the two other liquids. Stir the drink and garnish with an orange slice.
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