Green Tarragone Verte 1973-85
⏳ wine.drinking_window
Fully mature and drinking spectacularly now, with the structure to easily cellar for several more decades.
🍽️ wine.food_pairings
dark chocolate desserts, strong blue cheeses, neat as a digestif
✨ wine.spec_sheet
The legendary 'Tarragone' bottlings of Chartreuse represent a fascinating chapter in spirits history. Following their expulsion from France in 1903, the Carthusian Monks established a distillery in Tarragona, Spain, where they continued to produce their enigmatic green liqueur until 1989. The period between 1973 and 1985 yielded some of the most coveted expressions of Green Chartreuse ever made. Crafted from the secret recipe of 130 botanicals macerated in a grape-based spirit and aged in oak, these Spanish bottlings are celebrated for their distinct character, often showing a richer, more honeyed, and intensely complex herbal profile than their French-distilled counterparts. Over decades of bottle aging, the fiery alcohol has integrated beautifully, transforming the liqueur into a sublime, harmonious elixir of anise, mint, rosemary, and warm baking spices.
🍾 wine.about_producer
Dating back to 1605 when the Carthusian Monks of the Grande Chartreuse monastery received a manuscript containing the recipe for an 'Elixir of Long Life,' Chartreuse is one of the world's most storied and enigmatic spirits. Handcrafted by the Monks of the Order of the Chartreux, production historically centered in Voiron, France, with a significant period of exile in Tarragona, Spain, before moving to the modern Aiguenoire distillery in Entre-Deux-Guiers. The production process remains a closely guarded secret known to only two monks, involving the maceration of 130 botanicals in grape-based alcohol followed by extensive aging in oak casks. Renowned for its complex herb-forward profile, the house is celebrated for its iconic Green (Verte) and Yellow (Jaune) expressions, alongside highly coveted V.E.P. (Vieillissement Exceptionnellement Prolongé) and historic Tarragona bottlings. This legendary producer continues to bridge centuries of monastic tradition with unmatched artisanal excellence in the world of fine spirits and liqueurs.