Since 2021, Boris and Sébastien Jolivet have embarked on a completely crazy adventure. These two Nîmes relaunched the legendary Génestine distillery, created in 1845 in Clermont-Ferrand, one of the former French and world flagships in the field.
Sébastien Jolivet, already an agent, wine wholesaler in Puy-de-Dôme, sommelier and oenologist, sold the distilled products of another company. One day, he decided to strike out on his own. Instead of starting from a blank page, he came across this company from Clermont-Ferrand, one of the oldest distilleries created in France and the largest in the country in the 1920s and 1930s.
It was passed down from father to son, but in the mid-1950s, the last child did not want to take up the torch. This building in the city center of Clermont-Ferrand therefore closed overnight. The brand logo, the original soul of Maison Génestine, was designed by Auguste Bartholdi, creator of the Statue of Liberty, the greatest statuary of the time.
“I worked for ten years in commerce in Port-Camargue, it was my brother who already had a lot of clients in the industry. He already had 300 or 400 active people”explains Boris Jolivet, sales director for the southern part of France. With around fifteen agents in total, the 42-year-old manages several wholesalers who sell Génestine products in hotels, restaurants and even wine merchants. At least sixty resellers work with the structure in Gard. In the Gard we find: Le Comptoir de Bacchus, la Cave Quarante et Un, Les Jolis Canons, Chez Bonnie, Les Vins de Notre Pères, the V and B in Alès and Nîmes, or even the Comptoir Méditerranéen in Bellegarde.
Very recently, Distillerie Génestine began working with the famous two-star restaurant Alexandre/Michel Kayser in Garons. “The sommelier Lionel Delsol, a history of the house, had tasted our products at a friend of his who sells us, the Comptoir Méditerranéen in Bellegarde, and when we wanted to make an appointment with him he already knew us. He asked us if we could show him the whole range“, welcomes Boris Jolivet.
Further afield, leaving the department, the Distillerie Génestine spreads to the four corners of France but also abroad: in Belgium, Portugal, Canada, the United States, China, Hong Kong, Thailand, in the United Arab Emirates…, “we must have more than 700 active customers, that goes from direct prospecting to working in conjunction with wholesalers. The most important thing is to have follow-up with your agents, because customers like to be in contact with representatives of the brand”reveals Boris.
The range of products offered • Rights reserved
Wide range of products
The two brothers come from an epicurean family, where their father already made liqueurs. One day, he finds an old grimoire, and it all begins. “When we had a big meal, the tradition was that he brought out all his liqueurs, we were immersed a little in that world. My mother was the best cook in the world, we never ate frozen meals until I was 18 years”remembers Boris.
Maison Génestine offers ten different spirits for sale. The products are made from purely natural ingredients, pure Auvergne water and superfine alcohol, without alcohol, artificial coloring or flavoring. “We work things fresh. Our verbena is produced in our own fields. We harvest, we leaf and we produce immediately afterwards. The same for our limoncello, our mandarin and our gentian, we work them in season and ripe”assures Boris.
We therefore find a vermouth (red wine with maceration of plants and spices), a gentian (a product which is very fashionable and has a striking bitterness), an artisanal pastis and liqueurs: verbena, limoncello, mandarin, peppermint, liqueur of 80 plants and two gins.
Some products have even won awards. The world's largest distiller's show in London awarded a silver medal for bottle designs, a gold medal for verbena and a bronze medal for vermouth. And in Paris, the distillery received a silver medal for its peppermint, and a gold medal for its gentian. For the holidays, products were snapped up like hot cakes, to be given as Christmas gifts. The two brothers don't plan to stop there and are thinking about a rum and a whiskey in the near future. To take the experience even further, a museum will soon be created in the underground cellars of Clermont-Ferrand.
