Famille Ricci, the great development

5 March 2025 | Interviews & Meetings
Famille Ricci, the great development

Interview with Morgan Ricci, co-founder of Famille Ricci

Hello and thank you for granting us this interview. You entered the world of rum in 2019 by founding the brand "Famille Ricci." What is your assessment of these six years of existence?

We respond with pleasure and thank you for giving us visibility. These were intense years. We arrived on the scene with a work philosophy that shook up the codes, which required a tremendous amount of energy and time to travel and meet enthusiasts in order to explain this philosophy, all the research and experimentation to achieve the desired result on each vintage, and to show that with aging and blending, if mastered, the tasting experience could be taken even further. Result: hard work and tenacity have been rewarded with a philosophy that has been assimilated both by our professional clients, who are constantly growing in number, and by our passionate clients with whom we have created real connections. La Meute (The Pack) is now a big family, and that is surely our greatest success.

In six years, you've launched several series of rums, such as the Zodiac or the UFOs. Can you introduce us to the different existing series and tell us about a few of them?

These series are now collector's items since they were the last ones. In 2025, we'll be back with new ranges! But until now, there was the Zodiac range, composed of 12 limited series following the astrological sign, either single cask or an assembly of single casks, in order to correspond as closely as possible to each sign. There was the Exception range, which was our range of the most exceptional single casks. These were meticulous selections of the most qualitative 1% that we tasted each year. After that, in order to highlight all our know-how in the service of our philosophy of exceptional blending, there was the Ovni range: unique blends of a very high level, with the desire to give our customers memorable tasting moments. 

Finally, every year Quintessence is released, which is the result of a year-long blend of all our selections of the year. It is an extraordinary taste experience, a philosopher's rum in a way, since it is very evolutionary and tells us a different story with each sip.

The latest series, Domaine Ricci, is generating a lot of buzz. Can you explain what makes it so special?

It's not a range but a brand in its own right. This is intended to highlight, on the one hand, our selection work, since on this brand we do not rework our selections through aging and blending.

The aim is to highlight the unique know-how of each distillery through ultra-qualitative and sometimes disconcerting selections, because they are far from the usual signature of the distillery. Sometimes, we are also there to help distilleries try something else when the quality and interest are indisputable.

On the other hand, it is also a way of thanking these distilleries who trust us and allow us to work, because without them the work of a bottler would not exist. And it's true that with Famille Ricci, where we also impose our signature with aging and blending, we highlight them less than some of our colleagues.

Now, the question no longer arises. Domaine Ricci is not just rum, and this allows us to highlight the other spirits that we love, and to offer and introduce other worlds to our customers who ask us for it. Finally, it is important to specify this, but the Domaine Ricci selections have very strict specifications in order to select only the best and exclusively directly from the distillery, without an intermediary.

Morgan and Esteban Ricci
Morgan and Esteban Ricci
New brand : Domaine Ricci
New brand : Domaine Ricci

For someone who is discovering this brand, which spirits would you recommend starting with?

It's very difficult to answer. I would say that for the person who wants to stay in their comfort zone, they should prioritize their favorite spirit first. And for the curious who want to discover other horizons, they are spoiled for choice under this brand.

The Ricci Family is involved in blending, bottling, and aging. Are you experimenting with new types of aging or finishes?

Yes, constantly, and this has been the case since 2015, even before Famille Ricci was officially founded. We experiment with different types of wood, where we are among the pioneers, but also with different formats, wood treatments, toasting levels, etc. Second-fill casks as well, of course.

But the key is to find harmony each time, so that these experiments bring additional elements without overpowering the original spirit, which must absolutely remain the backbone of the final product. Otherwise, it may taste good, but I don’t see the point.

Tank and Aging Cellar
Tank and Aging Cellar
The still waiting to be assembled
The still waiting to be assembled

What future surprises can we expect from the Ricci Family?

You’re starting to know us, and you’re well aware that we’re a bit of workaholics. So, as you might guess, we haven’t been idle these past few months.

On one hand, we’ve been paying close attention to the feedback we’ve received in order to keep improving and better meet the expectations of our customers. That’s why we decided to revamp the limited-edition ranges of Famille Ricci to make them clearer and easier to follow, whether for our distributors, wine merchants, or the final customer.

That’s why Zodiac, Ovni, and Exception are coming to an end. From now on, there will only be two limited-edition ranges that are very easy to understand: one range of rare single casks and one range of unique blends.

That’s for what already exists, but we’ve also been working hard and investing in new projects. Most notably, the creation of our own distillery, which will be up and running in the coming weeks, and a location change that will allow us to work under better conditions and also to welcome visitors properly when they step through the doors of Ricci’Spirits. Thanks to this new workspace, we are further expanding our horizons, mastering every stage of production, and giving even more room to our passion and creativity.

Exciting new brands are on the way, starting with Gin Blue Garden, crafted exclusively with botanicals from our beautiful Côte d’Azur and distilled in our Amarok double-retort pot still, delivering an intense and unique aromatic profile.

When you think of the Mediterranean, you inevitably think of lemons and limoncello. That’s where our brand Le Méditerranéen comes in—a highly refined limoncello made exclusively from organic lemons grown in local orchards, following a unique recipe.

We are also launching Pastis 132, a pastis that blends the traditional methods of southern French pastis with inspiration from anisette recipes produced over the 132-year history of French Algeria. This project is a tribute to our father’s roots—he is a pied-noir, and in his youth, he and our grandfather enjoyed anisette in Algeria.

In addition, and on a more exclusive note, we are crafting rare liqueurs and eaux-de-vie under the brand Distillerie Azuréa, using our Amarok pot still. These spirits will be primarily made from local botanicals, sourced through a short supply chain—either from our local farmers or through wild foraging, as nature is rich and generous here on the Côte d’Azur.

Alongside these projects, we are finalizing the creation of our training academy in collaboration with Cyrille Mald, as we want to share our deep knowledge of spirits. For this, we are assembling a fantastic team with diverse expertise to produce high-quality educational content for wine merchants, sales teams, brand ambassadors, future cellar masters, and distillers—as well as for all passionate individuals eager to expand their knowledge.

Store of Ricci'Spirits
Store of Ricci'Spirits

We end with a more general question about your profession. What are the main challenges you currently face as a rum producer and blender?

The primary challenge is to consistently maintain an exceptionally high standard in each of our productions.

Next comes the pursuit of innovation—continuing to introduce new experiences and take our customers on a journey. But this must be done with care: not all innovation is beneficial. It's essential to always keep the fundamentals in mind. This isn’t a race to create the most eccentric product—there are boundaries that shouldn’t be crossed. Innovation should serve as a means to strengthen our foundations, not undermine them.

We now see many of our peers adopting our blending philosophy. This is both rewarding and inspiring, as it pushes us to continually improve. I believe this kind of healthy competition is a great thing for the rum industry—it drives the entire sector toward ever-higher quality, which benefits everyone.

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Written by

Matthieu Lange
Spirits Advisor