By Ray Spaziani
Wine Talk
Ray Spaziani
Carthusian monks in 1737 started to produce Chartreuse from a recipe discovered by François Annibal d’Estrées in 1605. It is produced using 130 herbs and botanicals and has the unique ability among liqueurs of getting better with age.
There are two types of Chartreuse. Green Chartreuse is produced from a sugar beet-based concoction. The yellow is a grape-based recipe. They are both distilled in copper and aged in charred French oak. They are produced from a secret recipe passed down by the Carthusian monks.
There are two guardians who are permitted in the herb room where the botanicals dry. The botanicals include saffron, thyme and citrus rind, and they come from all over the world. Green Chartreuse gets its color from chlorophyll. Yellow Chartreuse gets its hue from saffron. Green Chartreuse has an alcohol by volume of 55 percent. It is macerated for eight hours. The flavor is herbal. Yellow Chartreuse comes in at about 40 percent alcohol by volume and is a little sweeter than the green.
The secret recipe for Chartreuse allegedly helped people live a long life. François Annibal d’Estrées discovered it and brought it to monks near Paris. It ended up at La Grande Chartreuse Abbey. The original recipe was changed and tweaked some years later, and green Chartreuse was developed. Some 75 years later another version was crafted, and that is where the yellow Chartreuse came from.
The Carthusian monks used the profits from their productions to take care of the sick and poor. This continued until 1903, when the French government was looking for additional revenue. The Catholic monks were expelled from their monastery. They took their secret formula to Tarragona, Spain where they kept the profits and continued to help the poor.
Bak in France, a company was put together to produce Chartreuse. It had little success and eventually went bankrupt. Some businessmen purchased the remaining stock in 1929 and sent the shares to the Carthusian monks; Chartreuse was French once again.
In the early 1980s my oldest brother, Eugene Spaziani, was writing for several newspapers around the New London area. He wrote a story about Chartreuse and its history. Some weeks later, he received a letter from the abbot of the monastery thanking him for his writing. They told him how pleased they were to have their history published in a daily US newspaper.
Some weeks later he received a special gift from the Carthusians. It was a one-liter bottle of their special treasure, the V.E.P. Chartreuse. Some time later, my brother introduced me to the “nectar of the gods,” as he called Chartreuse. I don’t think it was that special V.E.P. variety, but it was good enough for me to develop a special appreciation for this wonderful liqueur. Thanks, Gene.
Ray Spaziani is the chapter director of the New Haven chapter of the American Wine Society. He is on the tasting panels of Winemaker Magazine and Amate del Vino and is a certified wine educator and award-winning home winemaker. Email Ray with your wine questions or activities at realestatepro1000@gmail.com.