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SABATINI: THE STORY, THE FAMILY AND THE GIN

The story and the family

The passion for the world of Spirits, in the Sabatini family, began at the beginning of the last century, with Guglielmo Giacosa, Ugo Sabatini’s maternal grandfather. Graduated in oenology, he managed the Cinzano factory in Bolivia and began the production of the famous vermouth. After the second world war, he returned to Melbourne where he was hired by one of the most important Australian wineries, Wynns & Co, for which he created a line of Italian products such as vermouth and marsala, named “Boronia”, that you can find, even today, on sale in the Australian market.

Sabatini Gin was born in December 2015, from four members of the two branches of the Sabatini family responsible for creating Sabatini Gin: Filippo with his cousins Enrico, Niccolò, and their father Ugo. The four are united by their family’s passion for the aperitif and a passion that they have combined with the desire to set up a business that involved the whole family. Their different occupations in marketing, finance, and law have often led them to work successfully abroad, but the Sabatini have always maintained a close connection with their homeland, particularly with Cortona.

This is where the family is located, purchased by their great grandparents over a century ago: Villa Ugo, a beautiful hillside property with rental homes, allowing guests a stay in the Tuscan countryside. It is on a summer day while sipping an aperitif together, the men of the family began to speculate that they could drink gin with a recipe that could tell of Tuscany, its perfumes and its authenticity. The desire was to package a recipe that could give gin all those flavors that brought back childhood memories: the lavender used by grandmothers to keep the sheets fresh, the flavor of thyme in the roasted chicken, the wild fennel used to flavor the potatoes on Sundays and lemon verbena that was used in the summer on the skin to keep mosquitoes away.

The Gin

The result is London Dry Gin with 9 botanicals, all strictly grown in Tuscany: Tuscan juniper, coriander, iris Fiorentino, wild fennel, lavender, olive leaves, thyme, verbena, and salvia. Most of these are plants harvested on the Villa Ugo; whereas Juniper, renowned for its excellent quality is harvested in various other parts of the region, so as to create a balance of the different junipers and terroirs.

The Distillation is entrusted to the historic Thames Distiller Ltd (Timbermill Way, Gauden Road, London SW4 6LY, United Kingdom) by Charles Maxwell. Gin is produced through a discontinuous distillation process in 500-liter steel stills Thumb and Thumbellina. According to a preparation procedure called “Steeping Infusion”. The final alcohol content is 41.3 abv. The result is that of a product that combines two great quality aspects with regard to the world of gin: the Italian botanicals and the tradition of London distillation.

Sabatini Gin lends itself perfectly to smooth consumption or mixing.
The perfect serve is the SABATONIC and it is made with 50 ml of Sabatini Gin, Dry Tonic, and a sprig of thyme.

A significant recognition is that received from the International Wine & Spirit Competition: Sabatini Gin has in fact been awarded a Silver Medal as SPIRIT 2017 (Judges Score: 80 – 85.9) and with a Bronze Medal for BEST PACKAGING-Quality Award 2017. Bronze medal in the Hong Kong Wine and Spirits Competition 2017 organized by Cathay Pacific, an international competition that acts as a guide for quality wines and spirits for the Asian market. 2018: The much-desired gold medal was recognized to Sabatini Gin by the 2018 edition of the Sip Awards. The Sip Awards, held in California, is the first and only competition in the world with judges only and exclusively consumers.

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