About this SPIRIT
The Cambridge Distillery
Cambridge Distillery was co-founded by William Lowe, the world’s first – and only – person to be both a Master of Wine (MW) and master distiller. Here, William and his small team craft a range of notably innovative gins, including Anty Gin (“the world’s first insect-based gin”) and Watenshi (“the world’s most exclusive gin”). The latter is produced using a proprietary technique of fractional condensation: to make a single bottle requires 50 individual still-runs. They use only fresh botanicals, processing them as and when they are in season and reserving the distilled liquid for later blending – and treating each ingredient separately. In all, there are nine individual variables per ingredient here. Considering that they work with hundreds of individual ingredients, the possibilities are virtually endless.
When is a wine ready to drink?
We provide drinking windows for all our wines. Alongside the drinking windows there is a bottle icon and a maturity stage. Bear in mind that the best time to drink a wine does also depend on your taste.
Not ready
These wines are very young. Whilst they're likely to have lots of intense flavours, their acidity or tannins may make them feel austere. Although it isn't "wrong" to drink these wines now, you are likely to miss out on a lot of complexity by not waiting for them to mature.
Ready - youthful
These wines are likely to have plenty of fruit flavours still and, for red wines, the tannins may well be quite noticeable. For those who prefer younger, fruitier wines, or if serving alongside a robust meal, these will be very enjoyable. If you choose to hold onto these wines, the fruit flavours will evolve into more savoury complexity.
Ready - at best
These wines are likely to have a beautiful balance of fruit, spice and savoury flavours. The acidity and tannins will have softened somewhat, and the wines will show plenty of complexity. For many, this is seen as the ideal time to drink and enjoy these wines. If you choose to hold onto these wines, they will become more savoury but not necessarily more complex.
Ready - mature
These wines are likely to have plenty of complexity, but the fruit flavours will have been almost completely replaced by savoury and spice notes. These wines may have a beautiful texture at this stage of maturity. There is lots to enjoy when drinking wines at this stage. Most of these wines will hold in this window for a few years, though at the very end of this drinking window, wines start to lose complexity and decline.
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Description
Frustrated by losing a few millilitres of each distillation run to the heavens, Will Lowe MW – master distiller at Cambridge Gin – set out to capture this quintessence, and, in doing so, foil some thirsty angels. Watenshi is created solely from those miniscule, hyper-evaporative essences and the effect on the palate is nothing short of sensational. To market-leading gins, Watenshi is Sir Lewis Hamilton’s greatest racing thoroughbred to Fred Flintstones’ Flintmobile – supreme, invigorating, almost unimaginably refined.
Rob Whitehead, Spirits Buyer, Berry Bros. & Rudd (March 2023)
spirit at a glance
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