Nestled in Victoria’s Mornington Peninsular, Barbara and Christoph Richartz are the owners of the Original Spirit Co where they have mastered their range of Gin fusions, including the Ginfusion Lemon Myrtle 500ml.
Both originating from Germany, their memories are of Germany’s famous Mosel wine region where her Barbara’s father converted apples from their own orchard into cider, apple schnapps and a special herbal digestive. Christoph also recalls being sent with his four siblings to the local forest to forage for wild raspberries, blackberries and sloe berries – from which his mother created delicious sweet liqueurs.

It’s these memories and artful distillery that made both Barbara and Christoph want to replicate their experience here in Australia and in 2002 the small batch processing started in earnest. Those original experiments continued and soon the entire family and some friends became involved. Herb mixtures and maceration times were varied. However, something was still missing. So, Christoph contacted a German master distiller, who accepted the family’s invitation to visit Australia. The missing piece in the puzzle was the introduction of a distillation process.
In 2007 the distillery was officially incorporated, a manufacturer’s license was obtained, and true to tradition a German-made copper pot still was imported. Then the real journey began – from creating a premium harvest digestive to multiple award-winning gins.
The Richartz family is proud to bring you the family’s passion and mantra – From Land to Hand.