Grey Goose Altius 70cl

Grey Goose Altius is the house reaching for its highest register. Where the classic bottling draws on spring water from a limestone well in Gensac, Altius is the single-origin, high-altitude expression, a vodka built to capture the clarity you find at altitude, where cold does the refining. François Thibault, the Maître de Chai who created Grey Goose in the late 1990s, stands behind it, and every batch is reviewed, hand-bottled and individually numbered before it leaves.

The method is plain in its ambition. Soft winter wheat from Picardie gives the base its shape, single-origin spring water carries it, and the spirit is filtered at minus 24 degrees, a sub-freezing step meant to echo the natural crystallisation that happens high in the mountains. What lands in the glass is texture first, a rounded, almost silken weight that coats the palate rather than cutting across it.

Taste it properly cold and the wheat shows as a soft sweetness, threaded with alpine minerality and a flash of green apple. There's a whisper of citrus and something floral at the edges, then a clean, mineral finish that arrives without heat. A vodka this composed rewards attention, so give it some.

Drink it when you want the spirit itself to be the point, a quiet nightcap or the still centre of a Martini.

How to Serve

Neat and well-chilled, straight from the freezer, or in a Martini where the spirit carries the drink. It is too good to bury under a heavy mixer.

Where to Drink It

The Connaught Bar, the American Bar at The Savoy and Dukes Bar in London all treat vodka with the precision Altius asks for.

Food Pairings

Caviar is the match to reach for, the vodka's cold, mineral weight setting off the salt and richness without ever crowding it.