Liquors
Myrtle (scientific name Myrtus communis) is an evergreen aromatic plant typical of the Mediterranean forest.
All parts of the plant, including flowers and fruits, are very aromatic. The plant has a pleasant appearance and flowers profusely.
The small, round, bluish-black berries are the edible fruits of the Myrtle. Their maturation occurs in late autumn and can continue until January.
We obtain the liquor through the alcoholic infusion of the berries (by maceration).
To create our Myrtle liquor:
We start the cold maceration of our berries, harvested from the Portofino Park, in small 100-l stainless steel tanks.
We let the fruit macerate in buongusto alcohol for at least 2 months; we then dilute the pure infusion with water and sugar. The infusion is then chilled down and filtered.
We’ve decided to keep the alcohol level quite modest and we suggest tasting the liquor at a cool temperature.
LIMONCINO
Our limoncino is born from an ancient and well proven recipe, where the pure fruit juice and peel is worked
with just a few other fine ingredients with the resulting lemon extract giving life to a delicious and noble
liqueur.
Portofino’s beautiful microclimate, its ample sunshine and particular soil result in trees bearing lemons with
an intense aroma and the richness of essential oils.
In Portofino’s Park the Mediterranean scrub with its strong aromas is integral with the lemon orchard’s
cultivation. The Lemon trees are grown as espaliers, overlooking the Mediterranean with the purity of the
sea air contributing greatly to making our lemons particularly valuable and fragrant.
The harvest of the lemons takes place between January 1st and October 31st and is done by hand to ensure
that the fruits don’t touch the ground, and are transported with the utmost care.
The limoncino comes about through alcoholic infusion. Lemon peel as the main ingredient is removed from
the albedo and left to macerate in alcohol. Water and sugar is added to produce a syrup as part of the final
process.
The entire process takes around 60 days: one month for alcohol maceration and another month after
creating the syrup. The alcohol percentage depends on the proportions of water and sugar used and is
generally between 25 and 35 percent.