Process

The Three Stages of a Traditional, Environmentally Responsible Process

Lillet is a subtle blend of wines and fruit infusions, the result of traditional craftsmanship and of expertise dating back nearly 150 years.

The Bordeaux region’s winemaking heritage, together with the fruit infusions at the heart of Maison Lillet’s expertise since the 19th century, ensure the excellent quality of our apéritifs.

In preparing Lillet, we take particular care over the sourcing of our ingredients. One important objective we have is to select more wines from vineyards that use environmentally friendly practices.

Meticulous In Our Choice of Wines

As an apéritif, Lillet is made to bring out the very best in the wines we use to create it. All of our ingredients are carefully selected from the grapes that make the wine to the fruits we use to create our macerations that are blended with the wine.

We choose only French wines, most of them made by growers in the very region Lillet is made. To strengthen these links and our involvement in the local economy, we have entered into partnerships and vineyard contracts with local producers since 2018. This mutually beneficial initiative provides our partners with long-term income while ensuring our supply of quality wines.

Traditionally Prepared Fruit Infusions

From Lillet’s inception, the fruits and peels that go into it have been carefully chosen for their freshness and aromatic intensity. The sweet oranges come from Turkey, Morocco and Spain. The bitter oranges come from Haiti. Cinchona comes from South America.

The fruits and fruit peels are cold-soaked separately in alcohol. After several weeks, once the flavor has been extracted, the liquid is removed and the fruits are pressed.

The leftover fruits and peels are collected and taken for composting less than 30 kilometers away.