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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’.

Rhumerie de Chamarel - Rhumerie de Chamarel – A newcomer with vision

This high-quality rum from the island of Mauritius is produced in line with ecological guidelines. The products are distributed in Austria by the company Wind GmbH, based in Traiskirchen (www.wind-plast.at).

The road leads through extensive pineapple plantations and fields of sugar cane up to the distillery at an altitude of 300 m in the South-West of the island. Designed by a renowned architect, the building is elegant and authentic and a fine example of modern construction with its natural materials such as wood, stone and water. The comprehensive concept also incorporates the L’Alchimiste restaurant where up to 80 guests can savour the sophisticated regional cuisine. At the “Sugar Cane Spirit” boutique, various types of rum are on offer (White Rum, Le Coeur de Chauffe (fine brandy), Rum Paille (stored in wooden casks), Rum Arrange (flavoured with fruits and spices) as well as an exclusive clothing range, hand-made products and a small jewellery collection.

The location and climate of the fertile valley promote the growth and quality of the sugarcane. The sugarcane is harvested by hand in the early hours of the morning and processed at the mill within four hours. The fields are not normally burnt, as is usually the case, to make harvesting easier. Even when distilling at the highest modern levels of technology, nothing is wasted: the bagasse – the fibrous remnants of the sugar production process – is burnt to obtain energy. The chimney contains the very latest smoke filters and the ash is used to fertilise the fields.

The company yet again impressed at the World-Spirits Award, with one gold and four silvers.

Braunstein - Micro Whisky from Denmark

Denmark’s first ‘micro-distillery’ was built in an existing brewery in Køge to the south of Copenhagen. The first whisky barrel was filled in 2007 and since then, some 50,000 litres per year have been produced. The first sales of malt whisky from the new distillery took place on 22nd March 2010 across Denmark, marking the start of a new Danish whisky tradition.
When it comes to getting the right ingredients, facilities and production, the owners are not willing to compromise. However, this is not enough to simply produce exceptional whisky. The key issue for the end product are the oak barrels in which the whisky matures and gets its colour. Being a microdistillery with the necessary resources at its disposal makes it possible to select only the best barrels to mature the ‘fruity new make spirit’.
The limited production also makes it possible to observe the development of each individual cask month by month to ensure that only exclusive whisky series are bottled. These are known as the ‘Library Collection’ and are deliberately unique and only available in limited quantities on the market.

Quality, not quantity – the small range of spirits was honoured at the World Spirits Award for this, and received double gold for Braunstein Edition 7 and Braunstein 15:2 (Spirit of the Year 2016), gold for Danica Gin and Danica Vodka, as well as silver for Braunstein 15:1.

Säly Edelbrände & Gin: Voralberg newcomer with a passion

Patrick Säly, born in 1971, lives in Tschagguns in Montafon. The professional photographer started distilling in the autumn of 2020 as a COVID-19 project and has been working with gin since March 2021. As a newcomer, he works hard on perfection through perseverance. He does everything himself, from planting the trees to labelling the bottles. “My aim is to offer a clean, tasty and chemical-free product with a clear conscience. I myself am also a critical consumer and would like to pass this on as a producer!”

Priority is given to the regionality of the raw materials. His working principles are thoroughness, accuracy and cleanliness. Almost 100 percent of the fruit comes from the region, some of it from his own young trees, but most of it collected from mainly old, rare varieties. In 2022, over five tons of fruit were harvested by hand. The gin also contains many botanicals from the region, some from higher altitudes, such as wild rowan berries, Swiss stone pine cones, larch needles, gentian roots, cranberries, blueberries and more. Around 25 brandies, spirits, liqueurs and gin are produced in small quantities. Distillation takes place in a 76-litre column with water bath and agitator, operated with 12 kW of electricity. The company supplies the region’s top restaurants and has seven sales outlets in addition to the farm shop.

At the World Spirits Award 2025, Gold was awarded to Montafoner Zwetschkenbrand (damson brandy), Rote Pichlbirne (red pear), Roter Enzian (red gentian), Montafoner Obst- und Gemüsebrand (fruit and vegetable brandy) and Schindla Gin. Silver went to Montafoner Kirschbrand (cherry brandy), Montafoner Kräuterlikör (herb liqueur), Montafoner Dörrzwetschken Likör (prune liqueur), Heubluama Gin (hay flower gin), Montafoner Zirben Likör (arolla pine liqueur) and Montafoner Latschenlikör (dwarf pine liqueur).