They grew up in the family vineyard in France, learning the art of traditional winemaking from their father. Now sibling duo Alex and Emma Watson are pouring this experience into a bottle of gin, and they hope people will think of their new creation as if it were a fine bottle of wine.
“Gin is really having a moment right now in the luxury area. If you look at whiskey, vodka, tequila, every other category has really had this big premiumization moment, and it’s gin’s turn next,” said Alex Watson, a couple of days after the launch of their Renais Gin at a West Hollywood restaurant.
The new high-end gin is now available online and at Hi-Times Wine Cellars in Costa Mesa. It will become available at other Los Angeles and Orange County locations as well as a few bars and lounges later on. The gin made its debut last year in Europe.
While most gins today are made from grains, like wheat, barley or rye, inspired by their father and the family business, the siblings looked to their winemaking roots and instead distilled from French wine pressed grape skins sourced from the family vineyard.
“We collect all of the grape skins from the winemaking process, we ferment them, and we distill from that. We prevent all these grape skins from going to waste and we create a really high quality base spirit from the grape. That’s very unusual in the world of distilling,” he said. “It’s not easy to do,” he added.
Besides the pressed grapes botanicals like Juniper berries, linden flowers, lemon peel and lime are added to the mix.
“Renais has this beautiful, subtle slightly citrusy quality, it’s got a lot of delicate floral notes, fresh grape notes,” he said. “Gin is a really good vehicle for complex flavors. If we wanted to we could have made a flavored vodka or whatever, but in practice gin is a great vehicle for carrying lots of multiple and complex layers of flavor which is the story that I wanted to tell with Renais,” he added.
Gin is obviously a popular drink with nearly nine million 9-liter cases sold in the United States last year, generating more than $1 billion in revenue for distillers. In particular, sales in the super-premium category surged by 16% in 2023, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, a national trade association that represents producers and marketers of distilled spirits.
While it’s especially popular in cocktail mixes, Alex hopes people think of their gin more like a glass of wine.
“I would love for people to try it straight. I would encourage people to pour a little bit out into a wine glass, get it nice and cold and approach it like you would a glass of wine. Have a little sniff, try it and see what you make of it. But then it’s delicious down into cocktails,” he said.
For more information or to purchase online go to renais.com
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