St Mary’s Wines and Spirits has won gold in the American Distilling Institute 2022 International Spirits Competition for their London Dry Gin.

The award-winning gin has proved to be a stand-out spirit, as it previously won Classic Dry Best in Class and gold at the GinNation Consumer Gin Awards in late 2020.

St Mary’s Winemaker Robin Mulligan said winning the award reaffirmed to people that it was a quality gin and hoped the consumer would see it as worthwhile.

“It’s a London Dry style but we aim to try and round out the palate and the aromatics as much as possible,” Mr Mulligan said.

“It took us a fair while working on the recipe itself, we were working on the recipe before COVID happened and then after COVID we were sort of stimulated into finalising it.

“It’s a good addition to our range of products.”

The St Mary’s spirits range also includes clear and infused vodkas and a white and spiced cane spirit.

Making the spirits is a family affair, distilled from scratch at St Mary’s Vineyard by Mr Mulligan and his brother Ian with their mother and father also involved in the process.

“The process particularly with the gin, the recipe did take quite a long time to work it out and just every little balance between the different ingredients,” Mr Mulligan said.

“If we did not spend that time, it would not be the same gin.”

Mr Mulligan said St Mary’s had some products yet to be released, including a fortified shiraz and rum.

“We have got a fortified shiraz, we have got a vintage edition and some put away in a barrel,” he said.

“We had ample fruit and we decided to put some of that away.

“Probably in August we’re going to have our rum ready to bottle, so that’ll be the first time we get to put that to the market.”