The Manguin distillery on the Ile La Barthelasse just outside the ramparts of the city of Avignon is responsible for this stunningly complex pastis.
Pastis Manguin is slightly enhanced by pear brandy. Can be served as a digestif on crushed ice.
Simply add five parts cold water to one part of pastis then sit back and enjoy!
The distillery was set up in the 1940s when the Fauvist painter Henri Manguin swapped busy St Tropez for this quiet spot with its bounty of fruit.
His grandson Philippe Manguin, the distiller today, continues to mastermind a limited production the old-fashioned way.
Besides seven eaux de vie and various liqueurs (including the frankly bizarre Provençal concoction of 65 plants known as La Farigoule), the company makes eight kinds of pastis.
Bestsellers? Pastis Manguin, traditional and complex with overtones of dried flowers; spicier Pastis d’Avignon and trendy Pastis Bleu.
The quality of all Manguin spirits hinges on a long, slow distillation in old alambics, says M Dupont. ‘Et quelques petits secrets…’ Of course.
