Currant in Madeira Cask

Blackcurrant matured in a Madeira cask – from Manufaktur Geiger

Manufaktur Geiger Blackcurrant matured in a Madeira cask is a fruit brandy made from blackcurrants from the Swabian Jura, matured in wooden barrels. The soft and sweet aromas of the Madeira cask lend the dark berry-like blackcurrant balanced, spicy notes. In terms of taste, this brandy displays dark berry fruit aromas, wild berries, raspberries, liquorice, dark chocolate, stalky-pomace accents, earthy, green-leafy, grassy-mossy notes, nettle, menthol-mint, delicate elderflower, pleasant fruit acidity, medicinal-quince-like, iodine-petrol-like, a slight bitterness. In its high-quality gift packaging, this spirit makes an elegant gift for fruit brandy connoisseurs.

How Geiger Blackcurrant in Madeira Cask is created

Besides fruit juices and liqueurs, distillates are also produced from blackcurrants. A concentrate can also be obtained from part of the buds, for example, which lends perfumes a special, fruity note. Blackcurrant is the flagship of the berry family in terms of intensity and aroma; even its leaves smell fragrant. The diversity of aromas presents itself in distilled form as particularly blackcurrant-fruity, juicy, with many green-grassy-stalky components.

For this specialty, Jörg Geiger selects only blackcurrants grown in the fields of the Läpple family in Hattenhofen, in the foothills of the Swabian Jura, mostly on Jurassic shale soils. The approximately six hectares of blackcurrants are cultivated by the Läpples exclusively for our manufactory. Jörg Geiger assures his farmer every year that he will purchase all harvested fruits. This allows him to distill this single-variety brandy in years of a large harvest. He needs 50 kilograms of blackcurrants for one liter of pure distillate after rough and fine distillation. As a youthful distillate with a rather short finish, maturation in wooden barrels is the reason for the long aftertaste.

The used Madeira casks have been filled five times. Selected red wines are stored for three to five months, or even several years, under the influence of heat between 45 °C and 75 °C in appropriately heated warehouses or under corrugated iron roofs. This warm storage leads to the special concentration and typical taste profile of Madeira wines. After at least three years of maturation of our distillate in the Madeira cask, the floral, dark berry scent combines with the fantastically sweet notes in the finish, which lingers on the palate with light bitter notes.

Manufaktur Geiger – Brandies from sweet wine casks

Manufaktur Jörg Geiger is located in the small community of Schlat, eight kilometers southeast of Göppingen, in the heart of the Swabian Jura. Here, in this unique cultural landscape characterized by mountainous forests, juniper heaths, and orchards with fruit trees sometimes over 100 years old, is the home of Jörg Geiger and his manufactory.

The youthful-looking Jörg Geiger grew up in his parents' gastronomy business, the over 300-year-old Gasthof Lamm. In addition to the successful restaurant, his father operated a small distillery. There, he produced single-variety distillates, such as the Stuttgarter Gaishirtle – a true rarity from an old pear variety. The passion for distilling and the preservation of old varieties was passed on from father to son. Jörg Geiger has been running the guesthouse and the fruit distillery since 1994. Although he became known for his sparkling wine from the "Champagner Bratbirne" (Champagne roasting pear) and his non-alcoholic Prisecco, his fruit brandies should also be noted. Like these special sweet wines from fruit from Swabian orchards, self-distilled fruit brandies, like this blackcurrant matured in a Madeira cask, and plenty of peace and time to mature in old wooden barrels.