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Luding Group: Vodka Tchaikovsky as a high-spirited homage to the famous composer

At the beginning of the 1990s, the modern distillery ‘Fortuna’ was launched in a green field in the south of Russia – in the Krasnodar region, a strip of land with spa resorts and health centres. The distillery has specialised in unusual products, in a region with a particularly green fingerprint. The vodka created in honour of the great Russian composer Tchaikovsky is special. The concept for this exceptional product is comparable with one of his musical scores: the work ‘Swan Lake’ served as an inspiration. Art enthusiasts can thus immerse themselves in the history of Russian estate life in the 19th century. The traditional white and blue colours underline the purity of this vodka.

The technical particularities span a wide quality-orientated spectrum: from the selected wheat, their own well water and the special treatment of the distillate with skimmed milk powder to the crystal-clear filtration with active birch coal. With so much perfectionism and monitoring of the individual production steps, the result is an especially gentle, animating and very typical vodka based on wheat. After the diluting of alcohol and pure distillate, the production process is continued with maturation in steel tanks. The aim is to ‘wed’ both ‘waters’, resulting in an especially harmonious vodka.

At the World Spirits Award 2022, Vodka Tchaikovsky was awarded double gold and honoured as the best vodka with the title ‘Spirit of the Year’.

Edward Snell – Whisky from South Africa

Edward Snell founded a trading company in Durban in 1848, from which the oldest spirit company in South Africa developed over 160 years. Following an eventful history, the company is now once again in the hands of the family. Besides their own brands they also sell numerous local and international drink brands, mostly in various markets in Africa and the Middle East.

The wide range of products includes whisky, brandy, vodka, rum, gin, tequila and cognac. One outstanding label is Firstwatch Whisky with its new look, a striking, square bottle design. Consumer demand for a whisky with an American taste profile has been perfected over time and is presented today as a balanced blend of the finest imported rye and grain. Whether pure, on the rocks or mixed – its diversity makes it popular with many different target groups and successful in one of the largest spirit segments in South Africa.

At the World Spirits Award, there was gold for Firstwatch Whisky.

Erste Dresdner Spezialitätenbrennerei – Strong stuff from Saxony

A distillery was set up in the 13 metre long vaulted cellar of the former Dresden-Klotzsche vineyard in 2001. Today, it has six employees and is both a primary occupation and a calling for Swiss-born Georg Schenk. High-quality products form the focal point here: in addition to fine liqueurs, over 50 different types of brandy are produced as well. At the heart of the selection are the traditional aromatic varieties including Adersleber Calvill and Zuccalmaglio Renette apples. A visitor centre was established in autumn 2010 where tasting sessions bring the wide range of flavours to life.

‘Augustus Rex’, the company’s rather grand-sounding sobriquet, is reminiscent of Augustus the Strong who was omnipresent in Saxony: he had orchards planted to promote healthy nutrition of his people. The area around Dresden is a traditional fruit-growing region with a large number of old meadows with mixed fruit trees. Harvesting has to be carried out by hand, and the care of the large trees, some of which are more than 80 years old, is time-consuming and laborious. In any one meadow, there is only a small number of trees of the same variety, so the quantities are limited from the word go.

The list of customers of this Dresden-based specialist is impressive: from Berlin (Hotel Adlon, Hotel Bristol, KaDeWe) to Hamburg (Alsterhaus and The Private Business Club Hanse Lounge), Sylt and Munich (Feinkost Käfer, Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten Kempinski).


The company added yet more awards to its collection of over 80 prizes at the World Spirits Award, including classification as a First Class Distillery 2013, gold medals for the Apfel Champagner Renette (apple), Freiberger Bockbierbrand (bock beer brandy) and Dresdner Gin and silver for the Zuccalmaglio Renette and Stanley Pflaume (plum).

Polini Distillates: From Italy around the world

As one of the biggest corporations in the D&B sector in Italy and one of the largest in Europe, the company manages an extensive portfolio of own brands and premium brands that are sold in over 50 countries.

The Polini Group Italia was founded in 1967 between the towns of Bergamo and Brescia as a family enterprise. It has adapted to market trends over the years, growing and
changing without losing its character. Knowledge of artisanal manufacturing procedures was coupled with highly modern automated production. Since the beginning of the 1990s, trade brands have been pushed which have brought the company to a leading position in the market, with more than 150 brands registered in Italy and about 20 further brands in 35 countries worldwide. In recent years, the focus has shifted to exports, concentrating on major brands and targeted investment in marketing and advertising. To support the constant growth of the markets, investments have been made in technologies and infrastructures, with the aim of covering the whole production process independently. The two Italian locations were merged into one plant in 2009, conceived with a focus on logistics and process automation. Apart from business management, administrative and trade offices and a research and development laboratory, it comprises a production plant with a capacity of 150,000 bottles per day and a logistics platform. Today 25 to 30 million bottles are produced per year.

At the World Spirits Award, gold was awarded to MySpritz, Limoncello Liberty, Higuana 12, Sambuca Iseo and Glen Forest. Silver was awarded to London Burning, Xo Brandy Riserva 14 anni vecchia rovere, Shamrose and Proud Irish Single Malt.