Isola di Favignana , Sicily, Italy
GIN by Nino, Thibault and Davide and Dr Rizza
Sitting on the balcony of Le Lumie restaurant in Marsala, Sicily, with the very cool Nino, looking across at the place of his childhood the beautiful Isola di Favignana. Nino tells me about the Island and what he and his close friends Thibault and Davide have created. Having worked in hospitality at Michelin star restaurants, with a love of organic produce, local natural wine and growing up on the Island they decided to put their experience, passion and interests into an all natural wild foraged Sicilian Gin.
Isola di Favignana Gin, made with 12 botanicals from Italy and grown, wild foraged and harvested naturally on the almost untouched ecosystem of Favignana island.
Each ingredient is selected by Doctor Rizza, a local Naturopath, who chooses the botanicals. Italian juniper berries, coriander seeds, and angelica roots are the base for a London Dry Gin, we add in lemon peels, olive leaves, myrtle leaves alongside local Favignana botanicals that are indigenous to this island: Roman chamomile, Helichrysum, sweet mint, rosemary, verbena and wormwood.
The harvested botanicals are nocturnally watered from an artisan well, which means the water is naturally a little salty. Which the native ingredients in our gin have evolved with.
Because the island of Favignana is one of the biggest protected maritime areas in Europe and the distillation process (which requires alcohol to burn at 96°C) is deemed too dangerous for this fragile ecosystem, so they distillation takes place on the mainland.
In only its first year the Isola di Favignana Wild Botanicals Gin has been awarded multiple awards including; Gold at the London Spirits 22, Gold Spirits Business Awards 22, Gin Category Winner & Gold Tokyo Whisky & Spirits 22, Bartenders Brand Awards for Gold for design and Silver taste just to name a few.
