Mike flies south to sample Grey Goose Vodka.
Our small group has gathered to sample the premium French vodka and to hear the story of how it was born. François is constantly animated, waving at security cameras as we circuit the wall of the 16th century chateau. He has a twinkle in his eye. He has done this many times for invited guests but he is enjoying it. The surrounding nine hectares support white grape vineyards. But Grey Goose Vodka has wheat as its starting point, so what are the grapes used for?
His talent for taste led to wine making courses in Burgundy and Bordeaux before returning here to make Cognac in 1982 “Everyone from this region has a family member somehow involved in the craft of Cognac.†He quickly became one of the youngest Maître de Chai – a Cellar Master.
Frank was famous for taking the unknown German herbal liqueur Jägermeister and persuading millions of Americans to drink it. He had now spotted a gap in the US market for a high end vodka and wanted François to create it.
It seemed crazy and was a big surprise for everyone in François family. “The region reacted negatively; they thought I was mad to go against four centuries of Cognac tradition.†But Frank was a visionary, “His best attribute was to trust the technicians in their work, I had all liberty to make the products just as I wanted”.
Ble Panifiable Superieur winter wheat from the Picardie region is ground into fine flour and distilled into alcohol. It travels 600km to their purpose built blending and bottling plant in Gensac to be blended with the soft and slightly sweet water the area is famed for, extracted from it’s 150m deep limestone reservoirs. Vodka is 60% water; “It’s the crucial part – even more taste analysis is done on the water than on the spiritâ€Â.
We sniff the bread then taste the Grey Goose and even I can detect the similarity.
The vodka is filtered only once – more is not better. “It’s like a chef adding more and more ingredients to his sauce, it doesn’t mean it will taste goodâ€Â. Over filtration strips out taste and character, “I didn’t approach this as stripping out impurities – I never let them get in there in the first placeâ€Â.
He takes the same care and control over the fruit additives sourcing the finest fruits and having them distilled in Grasse, famous for its perfume expertise.
He pioneered’cascade fermentation’ a continuous single distillation process with five column stills. He sees vodka distillation as an art; “If you have a colourful painting it’s not a catastrophe if you get a speck of paint on it. Vodka is like a blank canvas, one tiny speck and you can tell it has been tarnishedâ€Â.
The final variety is VX. It is 95% original Grey Goose blended with 5% Cognac aged for only a year in very old barrels which have no tannin left in them. We finally discover what those vines surrounding the châteaux are used for as this young and aromatic Cognac is distilled from them.
Grey Goose was first born in 1997 and the brand became hugely successful. François reputation was restored. “The name is an aerial voyage, their Atlantic migration is the perfect synonym for the marriage of the USA and France in the product. It was destiny for the brand to fly beyond this region and become famous all over the world”.
Marketing a product is all about finding and communicating it’s story and here they have a genuine one here. I ask what is up his tailored sleeve next. “I always have new ideas in flavours and for other specific products in my desk, but I can’t tell you them as I lost the key for the drawerâ€Â. That twinkle in his eye again.