Ricci' Spirits
Grand Opening (Spring 2025)
The “Famille Ricci” has been known as a French independent bottling company since 2019, but, although young, they quickly made a name for themselves in a very short amount of time due to the high quality of their craft. They define themselves as Eleveur – Embouteilleur – Assembleur (Refiner/maturer – Bottler – Blender from French). They have been expertly cherry-picking distilled rums of a variety of ages available worldwide to then infuse them with unique tones using different casks and barrels made from different wood species. These barrels and casks are purchased and charred in different manners in collaboration with La Tonnellerie Navarre, a well-known and established cask company from Cognac area. In 2024 “Famille Ricci” received the award of the best independent bottling company by one of the biggest rum organizations, RumX.
Remarkably, they are now able to produce their own rum as well as other spirits from the Southeast of France. The Ricci’s Spirits company includes multiple sub-brands such as Famille Ricci, Domaine Ricci, Dinasty, Azurea, Blue Garden and Le Méditerranéen allowing the Ricci’s Spirits company to make gin, whiskey, limoncello, pastis and, of course, rum. No doubt, there will be a lot to hear from them in the coming months and years. In this matter, regardless of what your favorite drink and spirits are, let’s keep an eye on the Ricci’s Spirits company and their upcoming projects.
As the name implies, the “Famille Ricci” and Ricci’s Spirits rely on the work of brothers Morgan and Esteban Ricci and the whole Ricci team, working diligently to make the best products possible. Currently, the facility is temporarily located in the industrial zone of Mougins, but later it will migrate to a nice and secluded area in the hills of Mougins overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. The company is planning to have a bar and picturesque terrasses to house unique tasting sessions surrounded by local aromatic plants and flowers to really embrace the local terroir.
Finally, last spring, the grand opening took place in Mougins. Music, free homemade limoncello and lemonade (citronade in French) were welcoming you on site and inviting you to participate in small group tours led by Morgan Ricci himself. Both Morgan and the mayor of Mougins spoke before the traditional opening ceremony.
Once inside, you first enter the showroom where you can see and purchase all the various spirits produced.
Then we were taken into the heart of the facility to discover a wooden vat, the double retort pot still Amarok (only three can be found in all of Europe) and various barrels and casks. During the tour Morgan was explaining the overall process of making rum along with other spirits.
I took the opportunity to ask him for some more specific information about rum, but I only got some partial answers, probably due to unique and proprietary methods and processes that provide the identity of their spirits. With regards to the raw material and the type of pot still they have, it seems that they do not want to work with fermentation products from molasses or sugar cane syrup. This could indicate that the brothers might exclusively be working with virgin sugar cane juice, likely local, since you cannot buy it somewhere else and ship it. We know for a fact that sugar cane grows in this local mediterranean climate. Long fermentation up to three weeks will be used, but could be even longer for whiskey, while for the rum the company is planning to explore different fermentation lengths depending on the kind of rum they want to make. And when it comes to aging, Morgan hinted that they will be using different species of wood in addition to the traditional oak.
The second part of the event moved to the venue next door, The Partage, a wide convivial space with delicate food and bar. Cheeses, charcuterie and other local tapas were brought to the tables while rum-based cocktails were flying at the bar. At the same time, you could continue tasting and sipping various Ricci’s spirits, especially rums, for the pure joy of most rum enthusiasts present tonight.
