Page 52 - BFM F/W 2024

Diamond Cut
Belvedere 10 distills the Polish brand’s vodka-making heritage into a new, single-estate expression
MOST BOTTLES OF BELVEDERE WILL PRODUCE A MEAN COCKTAIL.
The vodka brand, which has been distilling its signature spirit in Poland for over 30 years, even has some suggestions. Belvedere Organic is best, it says, when shaking up an Espresso Martini, while its original expression will create the ultimate Cosmopolitan. There’s even a spin on a daiquiri — the “Daqui-Rye” — which uses the brand’s award-winning vodka to put a zesty twist on a rum classic. Whichever cocktail is your favourite, Belvedere belongs. And yet, the producer’s latest launch — an opulent, extraordinarily smooth spirit named Belvedere 10 — is so pure that it demands to be enjoyed completely neat.
It arrived in North America last fall; this new vodka takes Belvedere back to its roots. The distillery now occupied by the brand, found just west of the Polish capital, Warsaw, was first constructed in 1910. And, as well as borrowing its name from that date, Belvedere 10 has also adopted the vodka-making practices and processes of a foregone era. The spirit will be produced in small annual batches, using only one type of rye, harvested at one time, from one field. Appropriately, 10 meticulous steps comprise its production, from the gentle heating of rye over a fire and fermentation with a unique distiller’s yeast to four lengthy distillations in Belvedere’s
vast copper columns. Finally, the vodka is passed through natural cellulose filters, designed to increase clarity and enhance flavour.
But that clear appearance belies the deep flavours of Belvedere 10. On its nose, the vodka teases tropical notes of coconut and cacao, with a squeeze of lemon and a faint touch of vanilla. A creamy mouthfeel then rolls through with green coffee and caramel, before a rich praline finish ties up any loose, luscious ends. There’s so much going on that Belvedere is quite right to demand it be served neat, save for perhaps a cube or two of ice. Simplicity is the selling point here; it’s a clean, flawless, virgin vodka that prides itself on purity.
And yet, while Belvedere 10 may be striking for its simplicity, its bottle is anything but. Sculpted in elegant white to reflect both the spirit’s purity and the snow that blankets Poland’s rye fields, its chiselled, brutalist facets are meant to represent diamonds — in celebration of the nuanced, organic Dankowskie Diamond rye used to create the vodka. “Simplistic in its purity, yet architecturally magnificent,” says Belvedere president and CEO, Francois-Xavier Desplancke, of the design. “From field to bottle, the rare organic Diamond Rye shines through every single step behind the creation of this opulent liquid.”
52 BFM / FW24 PORTFOLIO
DIAMOND CUT: TEXT BY JONATHAN WELLS.