BETWEEN MOUNTAINS, TRADITION AND INTERNATIONAL AWARDS
FACE TO FACE WITH MARCO VECCHIOLI
A project made of attachment to the land, selection and many dreams! We are on the border between Umbria and Marche, in the Monti Sibillini National Park and it is here that the dream of three friends was born, very different from each other but united by a single mission: to bring the true essence of these lands to the world.
Marco Vecchioli, founding partner of Sibillini Spirits tells us about this passion for quality.
How did the Sibillini Spirits project come about?
"We are 3 friends, all originally from Macerata, but our roots are right there, in the Sibillini Mountains Park.
In life, Matteo is a pharmacist with a passion for distillation.
Andrea is a native of Fiastra, where our gin is born, and he is an engineer while I deal with the commercial management for a wine-making company in the Macerata area.
We are totally different, we have always shared the bond between our origins and those wonderful timeless places.
In 2018, the first idea was born to create a product line that would represent us, which then evolved only later, in 2019 with a first “amateur” distillation.
The pandemic and all its limitations partially blocked us until 2020, the year in which the Sibillini Spirits project effectively got underway"
Strong attachment to your origins and your land: the Sibillini National Park.
"We are deeply in love with the Sibillini National Park, with our border towns where life is still very slow and there is a strong bond with the land.
In those places still unknown to many, traditions are cultivated, there is respect for nature and for sustainable production, outside the patterns of consumerism.
Our idea has always been to propose a line of spirits with a short supply chain, abandoning the idea of a “contemporary” gin but to create a refined and very traditional product, with an extremely “London” imprint.
Some of the botanicals used are grown by us and others by direct growers within the Sibillini National Park.
In the bottles, both of Vettore Gin and Bitter del Redentore, there is the logo of the Park, an honor for us, as a testimony and guarantee of the quality of the raw materials"
What are botanicals?
"The Sibillini park is an austere territory closed between the mountains, barren lands, without any Mediterranean contamination.
We relied only on what the territory offers us, making the most of its potential.
7 selected botanicals; high quality Apennine Juniper, Melissa, Wormwood, Coriander, Dill, Angelica and Sibillini Pink Apple, the latter a Slow Food presidium and the flagship among the small productions of the national park.
We wanted a gin in which the botanicals were distinguishable both by taste and smell. Also for this reason, we refined the research and in the first phase we carried out 35 distillation tests."
The names of your Spirtis are an eloquent reference to the territory, so much so that they bear the names of the highest peaks of the Sibillini Mountains, Vettore and Cima del Redentore. Are there any other curiosities about it?
"Let's say we left nothing to chance, the intent was to have a circularity around the product and its origins, with all the essence of the Sibillini.
For the spirits line we are using the names of mountains.
The highest is Vettore and therefore our first release with gin, the second is Cima del Redentore, used for the bitter and the third peak is the Priora, a product that is being created now and which we hope will be available soon.
We took care of the entire product look, including the communication and image part.
For Vettore, the choice fell on a transparent bottle, with a strong impact and a label in vector format and the gin's alcohol content is 43.8°, exactly the same as the latitude of the peak from which it takes its name.
A deliberately more “adult” gin, with a slightly higher alcohol content than many others on the market."
So we had an involuntary and quite interesting preview of the evolution of the Sibillini Spirits range.
"Yes, I can confirm that we are working on our third “creature”, the Priora.
The aim is to release one product per year, until completing a versatile but not banal line, which ranges from after-dinner drinks to more extensive mixology.
But I won't add anything else, I'll leave the surprise for you."
From a small town in the heart of the Umbria-Marche Apennines to international recognition, with the recognition of one of the most coveted awards in the spirits sector: WORLD GIN AWARDS. How was this “climb” to success?
"Winning the silver medal in a world competition with Vettore Gin was an immense satisfaction for us, a source of great pride.
A climb for us not at all obvious; despite the initial period in which there were closures due to the restrictions for the pandemic, we began to see that gin was receiving numerous consents, especially outside our territories.
From here we decided to compare it with other gins to evaluate its quality and taste. Apparently, the outcome was positive.
Last year, in fact, we also received the bronze medal at the ISC - International Spirits Challenge and then this 2023 brought us the silver medal in London with the World Gin Awards, one of the 7 Italian London Dry to receive the award."
We have talked a lot about Vettore Gin, but the second product, Bitter del Redentore is enjoying great success. How did it come about?
"For Bitter del Redentore too, the principles of research and strategy are the same as for gin; we were aiming for a sincere product, in line with the etymology of the name and therefore bitter. Very few botanicals.
The citrus note, typical of this spirit, not having bergamot or orange, was donated by orange thyme, the only herb present in the park that could give that sprint to our bitter."
The production is Original “Made in Marche”, can you confirm?
"Absolutely yes. Given that the test distillations are always carried out by us in an artisanal way, the distillation of the final recipe is carried out in Apecchio, in the province of Pesaro-Urbino.
Our collaboration is truly “Made in Marche”, a distillation carried out by four hands, thanks to the support of the technicians of the Collesi company, a well-known reality in the distillation field."
Going outside your homeland, also following the recognitions and awards won, I imagine that your spirits are gaining ground in many Italian venues. At the moment, how are you managing the commercial side?
"From the beginning we worked on creating many synergies with clubs and cocktail bars, starting from the Marche, and building many others throughout Italy.
A collaboration we are proud of is with the “Jerry Thomas” in Rome who immediately embraced our project.
In Italy since 2023 we have been distributed exclusively by Rotte dei Mercanti, a company of young people who immediately admired and welcomed Sibillini Spirits with great enthusiasm.
We are present abroad, in Belgium, Spain, United States.
We hope that this is just the beginning, we continue and will continue to put the same passion and research into it."
“We are meticulous, we leave nothing to chance. We like to communicate through our products the values with which we decided to give birth to our project.”
