Spirits / Eau de vie / Distillerie Louis Roque

​Distillerie Louis Roque - Plum Brandy

Souillac, Quercy

Since the late nineteenth century, the members of the Roque family have carried on, from father to son, the tradition of distilling. In 1905, Louis, the third of five generations, decided to start his own distillery in Souillac on the site of an ancient convent. Souillac is in the heart of the Quercy, not far from the Cahors wine appellation, an area also rich in gastronomic delights such as black truffles, walnuts, and plums.
Louis Roque became the local specialist of plum brandy. He kept his production in oak casks where the spirit aged slowly, under his close supervision. In 1995, the company, now under the direction of the fifth generation, built new aging cellars in Souillac. La Vieille Prune (literally “The Old Prune”) is a plum brandy, made by crushing three varieties of fresh plums: Ente (a red plum used  for Pruneau d’Agen, used for the famous dried plums in the Southwest), Mirabelle (yellow plums most famous in the Lorraine), and Reine-Claude (green plums grown all over France). After the pits are largely removed, the fruit undergoes natural fermentation before being double-distilled in copper bain-marie (double-boiler) pot stills, a gentle method that cooks the fermented "wine" slowly and preserves delicate aromatics.
What sets the Vieille Prune apart from a young, clear plum brandy is what happens next: the distillate is aged for several years — commonly three to five,  — in  400-liter barrels housed in the distillery's various cellars around Souillac. This slow oak aging is what transforms a clear spirit into an amber-hued eau-de-vie, mellowing its fire and layering in notes of dried fruit, spice, toasted wood, and vanilla. The alcohol is reduced slowly to 42% ABV, preserving the spirit's natural richness and silky texture. It is bottled with a cork, each one waxed by hand. 
The celebrated Souillac house officially changed hands in early 2025. It was acquired by three passionate friends: Julien Vandromme, a lawyer by profession; Stanislas Thierry, an investor in the Bordeaux vineyard scene; and Nicolas Lombard, a veteran of the champagne and spirits industry also tied to the Nusbaumer distillery. The new owners have been clear about their goals: preserve the heritage by keeping the historic Souillac savoir-faire and the existing 12-person team intact, and protect the recipe by maintaining the traditional blend behind the famous Vieille Prune, created in 1920. The house continues to hand-bottle, hand-label, and hand-wax every bottle that leaves the premises, just as it always has.
Reserve: Amber-gold in color, with a rich, inviting nose of stewed plums, stone fruit, dried fruit, and warm spice. On the palate it is round, full-bodied, and generously perfumed — flavors of prune, toasted almond, orange peel and vanilla unfold across a long, elegant finish. Traditionally credited with digestive properties, it is most often served as a digestif after a meal, though it also pairs beautifully with a cheese board or a dark chocolate dessert. La Vieille Prune has increasingly found its way into craft cocktails.
While the Vieille Prune remains the house's flagship and namesake, Distillerie Louis Roque has broadened its range over the decades to include other liqueurs and aperitifs.  Among these, their Pastis stands out as the house's other signature spirit. Bottled at 45% ABV, it is built on the classic anise-and-licorice foundation of a southern French pastis, rounded out with fennel, mint, coriander, and a closely guarded blend of Provençal plants and spices. On the nose it is intensely aromatic — star anise and licorice up front, with fresh, cooling notes of mint and fennel underneath — while the palate stays refined rather than heavy, thanks to the careful balance of botanicals. Like any good pastis, it is traditionally served diluted with cold water, with drinkers free to add as much or as little as suits their taste without losing the spirit's core aromatics; served this way, before a meal, it is meant to awaken rather than dull the palate.