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00:00Time for our entre nous segment or between us and today we're focusing on
00:04France's domestic spirits industry and taking a closer look at whiskey
00:09manufacturing. French distilleries have begun making a name for themselves on
00:13the global market but it's often overlooked by wine and cognac. We can now
00:18bring in a Sabine Crallet-Dupic president at French whiskey manufacturer
00:22Roselieurs. Thank you so much for joining us here on France 24 today. Firstly
00:26very simple question for you. How is whiskey made? Our whiskey is made in
00:32Roselieurs. It's the name of the village in Lorraine northeast of France and I am
00:37Sabine and I am the fifth generation of my family to continue on a tradition
00:44family. Now does I see that you brought bottles of whiskey. I have two here in
00:49front of me. The colors are different. Why? The colors are different because it
00:55depends of the cask because we use some cask which has before contained some
01:03prestigious wine in France for example from Burgundy or from Bordeaux wine
01:11prestigious and that's why the color is different. Sabine when we think of wines
01:16for instance of course we know that in 2009 the vintage was good in 2010 the
01:21vintage was good in 2015 a vintage was good. What makes a whiskey good? The
01:26whiskey is good because it depends of the barley and we are farmer. We are one
01:33of the few distilleries of the world to control the entire production process. So
01:38you do everything from A to Z. Everything. Cereals, malting, brewing,
01:43fermentation, distillation, aging, everything and the quality is recognized
01:49by the worldwide specialist in whiskey because for each step we chose the very
01:57best quality of barley which shows the cask and that's why. I saw you brought
02:03the barley with you so this is rare essentially to also grow your own barley.
02:07Yes it's rare. We are farmer since six generations and that's why it's
02:13important for us to to control the quality to propose and that's why we
02:18have a lot of medals of gold medal in international competition that's why.
02:27I want to ask you about something because this not many people know that
02:31France is actually a whiskey producing country. Why do you think this is not
02:37more acknowledged? Because we start after later but in France we have all of to
02:48make a very good whiskey. We have the Raleigh, we have the well-known of spirit,
02:54we have all of to make a very good whiskey and in France we like whiskey.
03:00I didn't know that France consumes a lot of whiskey. It was actually the top
03:06whiskey consuming country in the world until recently. I want to ask you about
03:11export markets for your brand for instance a French brand. I know that
03:17Johnny Walker exports a lot, Glenn Livet for instance exports a lot. How does a
03:22French whiskey brand compete with these big giants? For its quality and for us
03:29it's very important to have the quality and that's why we have a lot of gold
03:34medal in France and we export today in the USA, in Japan, in Canada, a lot of
03:40countries and it's very nice. We are very happy to do that. Are you looking at
03:46exporting to Asia because for instance India I believe is the number one whiskey
03:50consuming country in the world. Have you looked at Asia or is it just in the US
03:55and around Europe? Not yet but we hope to export in India. You want to export in
04:00India. Just what are the challenges because you know right now we've seen
04:04this trend for zero alcohol when it comes to gin, when it comes to wine and
04:09champagne for instance. Is that something you would look at potentially? Perhaps I
04:13don't know yet but perhaps we are open-minded and we have the chance, we are
04:19lucky because we have sons who come with us in the company and we have a very
04:27nice team and we have we we want to export in many countries and to look
04:34after what what it exists. So you when you talk about drinking whiskey
04:40is there cocktails, is there some with coke, is that found upon? How does it work?
04:47We also work with restaurant, with barman and we make our two mixologist cocktail
04:54with our whiskey. Yes and we also can find our whiskey in palace or very nice
05:00hotel and very nice restaurant and we have a lot of possibilities to do with
05:07the whiskey. Okay and just when looking ahead what do you see for yourself in
05:15terms of the main challenges? Is climate change something that worries you? For us
05:20what is very important to make our whiskey Roselier is the quality. So the
05:26quality and to be present in the in the world world. Sabine Gralet-Dupic, thank you so
05:32much for coming in. Thank you very much. And as we close out this segment a
05:36reminder to our viewers to drink in moderation and don't drink and drive.