28th February 2024
My name is Gilles Mugnier, I am part of the Mugnier family. We come from Domancy and we have been distillers since the 1940s, when my grandfather started.
A family story
We are distillers from father to son: my grandfather started, then my father took over. As a result, we were immersed in it. My brother then took over, then me. We are not very young, so succession is assured: my nephew will take over.
It's a skill that you need to have worked on a lot before working on it alone: to succeed in managing machines like we use, you need at least 10 to 15 years of practice alongside someone who is the job.
How a still works
There is a steam generator and 3 vases where the products are placed. We heat the product to 100°C, extract the alcohol, then recondense it: this is the principle of distillation. Then, it flows into pure alcohol, around 50°. It's similar to old-fashioned distillation, with a few modifications.
Arrival at a post
Our customers are the same from year to year, 95%. We exchanged phone numbers. I tell them when we arrive in their village, they respond telling us how much they have to produce, and we make an appointment. Thanks to the quantity specified, we know how long it will take.
It goes very well with our customers, they are used to it. They are very friendly people, who come to distill their product. This allows you to meet new people: they arrive with a smile and they leave with a smile, and that today is priceless. It's increasingly rare, in today's life, to experience moments like these. We are proud of it and we would like it to continue.
From towns to villages
It's ancestral: in the past there were a lot of itinerant distillers, and each had its own towns and villages. This tradition has remained, so we have preserved our villages. In some villages, the tradition was lost because there were not enough customers. Indeed, moving a still takes a whole day. But Cluses is a good town that remains on our route.
