chambord liqueur royale de france

C H A M B O R D L I QU E U R
R OYA L E D E F R A N C E
With its orb-shaped bottle, Chambord is one of the most
recognisable bottles on the back-bar, but few know its 300year-old origins, the entrepreneurial story behind its modern development, nor where or how it is made.
Words: Simon Difford Pictures: Rob Lawson
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hambord takes its name from Château Chambord, located in
France’s picturesque Loire Valley. The construction of this splendid
royal palace was originally started by King Francis I in 1519, when he
was just 25-years-old. Originally planned as a hunting lodge, this ambitious
young king started the construction of an extravagant château with 426
rooms, 282 fireplaces and some 77 staircases. He never saw the project
completed and it took his son, Henry II and then Louis XIV, both also keen
huntsmen to finish this most palatial of hunting lodges.
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The famous double spiral staircase at Château Chambord is worthy of a visit
in itself. This links the château’s three floors and comprises two concentric
spiral flights of stairs that wind independently around a hollow central
column: if two people each take one flight they can see each other through
the openings in the central column – but they will never meet.
The liqueur is said to have been introduced to King Louis XIV during
one of his visits to Château Chambord during the late 17th century. This
was a blackberry and raspberry liqueur, sweetened with sugar and honey and
flavoured with exotic spices. At the time, only nobility could afford such a
luxurious liqueur, with exotic spices then literally worth their weight in gold.
Centuries later, in the late 1980s, an American, Norton J. Cooper came
across a modern version of the liqueur while in France. Better known as
‘Sky’, Norton is the son of Maurice Cooper who made his fortune during
Prohibition through a contract to supply the U.S. military with dealcoholised beer. Legend has it that Maurice was brewing and selling
standard beer, merely labelled as alcohol ‘free’ beer, and unsurprisingly his
beer sold well. Correctly predicting that Prohibition would soon be
repealed, Maurice bought a Philadelphia distillery and liqueur producer
called Charles Jacquin et Cie which had been crippled during the years
of temperance.
Post-Prohibition, Maurice developed many new products, as well as
recreating the numerous old recipes he had acquired with the distillery. One
such product was a liqueur called Forbidden Fruit, which Maurice packaged
in a particularly distinctive, orb-shaped bottle.
Charles Jacquin et Cie prospered and was further developed by Sky, who
had inherited his father’s business acumen. So when Sky came across
‘Chambord’ liqueur he saw an opportunity and purchased the brand and its
recipe. He then used the orb-shaped bottle which had, up to then, held
Forbidden Fruit, for his newly acquired Chambord liqueur and launched
the product and bottle we recognise today in 1981, giving it the full name,
‘Chambord Liqueur Royale de France’.
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Combining the packaging from Forbidden Fruit with the Chambord recipe
and its French heritage was an inspired piece of marketing. Sky had the
product elaborated in the Loire Valley close to Château Chambord. Over the
years, as the brand grew he tweaked the packaging, replacing the original
metal band with a plastic strap and cage, which had to be hand-clipped around
every bottle. Consumers, particularly women, loved the instantly recognisable bottle, but many bartenders would pull off what they saw as an annoying,
loose plastic strap.
Chambord quickly grew in America, where Kir and other rich ‘crème’
berry fruit liqueurs were little known. If you ordered a Kir-Royale in New
York you were (are still are) likely to be served Chambord and Champagne, a
drink now promoted by the brand as a Cham-Cham. The popularity of the
quaffable French Martin’ (two shots vodka, one-third of a shot Chambord
and one shot freshly pressed pineapple juice) also ensured Chambord rode
the vodka boom. Incidentally, if you have only ever tried this drink with
processed juice, then please chop up a pineapple, press it and make yourself a
proper French Martini.
Sky, later helped by his two sons John and Rob, built Chambord into a
well-known brand over more than 20 years, until in July 2006 they sold it to
Brown-Forman for US$251 million. And while the Cooper family had predominately sold Chambord in their own American market, Brown-Forman’s
global reach has led to Chambord now being sold in 48 countries.
Around the time of Brown Forman’s takeover the Coopers were nearing
the end of a three year process to move Chambord’s production from
Huisseau sur Cosson a few kilometres even closer to Château Chambord, to a
purpose-built facility in the grounds of La Sistiere, a magnificent château
nestled in Cour-Cheverny. Brown-Forman recently completed the last stage
of this move with the installation of a Krone labelling machine. This state-ofthe-art piece of kit from Germany has allowed the launch of new packaging for
Chambord, as the machine can automatically apply the six labels the new
bottle design calls for. Incredibly it can do this on the 20cl, 35cl, 37.5cl, 70cl
and 75cl bottles, leaving only the 5cl miniature bottles still requiring
hand-labelling.
The new design is less cluttered with a label around the bottle’s mid-riff
carrying the Chambord brand name in place of that “annoying” plastic belt.
The bottle is also rounder. Yup, look closely and you’ll notice that the old
“orb-shaped” bottle is not actually an orb. The new rounder, slicker bottle is
not the only innovation from Brown Forman: American readers should also
look out for the newly developed Chambord-Flavoured Vodka. I very much
approve of the bottle but I have to say I do miss the old crown-shaped,
heavyweight metal screwcap.
PRODUCTION
Chambord’s Sistiere production facility comprises an office and three other
buildings surrounding a central courtyard, each dedicated to one of the three
stages of production.
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STEP ONE – INFUSION
The first and most important stage of Chambord’s production is the fruit
infusion. Large cylindrical infusion tanks are loaded with 4 tonnes of frozen
blackberries and raspberries and 2,000 litres of sugar beet neutral alcohol at
96.3% abv (alcohol by volume). The fruit is sourced from both the northern
(France and Serbia) and southern hemispheres (Chilli) to ensure
continuous year-round supply. Frozen fruit is used as it is the best way to
capture and maintain the fruits’ ripe, juicy flavours, coupled with the fact
that freezing breaks down the fruits’ cell structure and actually helps the
steeping process.
When the infusion vessel is first filled, a little heat is applied, just to help
defrost the fruit. The infusion is left for around a month, with the vessel
rotated every 12 hours to ensure an even infusion. The richly fruit-flavoured
alcohol from this first infusion, the “first juice”, is emptied from the infusion
vessel and transferred to a holding tank. The vessel, still containing the fruit,
is then filled with neutral alcohol diluted to 28% abv for a second, shorter
infusion. This produces the “second juice” which is also drained and
transferred to a holding tank. The fruit left in the infusion vessel is then
removed and pressed to obtain the “third juice”. These three ‘juices’ are
blended to produce “the berry infusion”.
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STEP TWO – BLENDING
The berry infusion is then blended, with natural essences extracted from
black raspberries, blackcurrant and other raspberry varietals. At this stage a
proprietary blend of French cognac, essence of Madagascan vanilla, extracts
of Moroccan citrus peel and fragrant herbal and honey essences are also
introduced to the blend. It should be noted that all of these essences are
natural and no artificial essences are used.
The Master Blender balances the blend to ensure its aroma and flavour
profile match the exacting Chambord specification. Only then will he filter
the product. Wine industry filtration technology is employed with high-tech
equipment supplied by Padovan of Italy. This space-age device has layers of
fine gauze on which a ‘cake’ of cellulose and diatomaceous earth. Sugar,
neutral alcohol and de-mineralised water are added to the filtered
concentrate to produce the final product at 16.5% alcohol by volume, ready
for bottling.
STEP THREE – BOTTLING
Although the new bottling line is state-of-the-art, it still requires human
input by around 15 workers. Firstly the bottles are ‘de-palletised’ and
washed with water at the same alcoholic strength as the liqueur they will
hold. The bottles are then filled with Chambord liqueur and sealed with
small plastic screw caps. Spots of glue are then automatically dropped on top
of each screw cap, and skirted decorative caps applied over the top of each
plastic cap by hand.
The huge Krones labelling machine then applies all six labels as the
bottles rotate inside between its six heads. (The bottle is so thick in diameter
that two labels are required to jointly stretch around the belly). Lastly a team
check each bottle for defects and fix the booklet to each bottle neck before
hand-packing into boxes.
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Chambord Liqueur Royale de France
16.5% alc./vol. (33°proof) 70cl bottle retail: £14
Taste: Clear, burgundy red. (If your sample has the merest hint of
orange/brown then your bottle has been open too long and your liqueur is
oxidized. Buy a replacement and use more frequently.) Rich blackcurrant
and warm vanilla nose with aromas of rich raspberry/cherry yoghurt and
rum ‘n’ raison ice-cream. The palate more subtle than the nose but with rich
flavours of raspberry fool, blackcurrant jam, cherry jam, honeyed vanilla,
sloe and damson with a hint of raisins and stewed prunes. The palate is more
rounded when compared to a typical French crème de cassis, framboise or
mûre, perhaps made softer by the addition of vanilla and honey flavours.
Warm, velvety, vanilla-ed fruity finish.
Producer: Chambord Liqueur Royale de France (a subsidiary of BrownForman), 82 Route de Bracieux, Cour Cheverny, 41700, France.
www.chambordonline.com
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