Sweet success for Kerikeri lemons

Paolo, left, and Andrea Loggia with their prize Sovrano limoncello, made at their home near Kerikeri. Photo / Peter de Graaf

Liqueurs made in a Far North garage are winning gold medals around the world.

Sovrano, a family firm producing Italian-style liqueurs, bagged a gold medal for its Limoncello Cream and silver for its Limoncello Original at last month's Sip consumer awards in California. The latest accolades bring to 17 the number of medals won by the Kerikeri company, starting with gold from Chicago's Beverage Testing Institute in 2010.

Ironically, Sovrano's success might not have happened without the economic downturn of 2008-09.

Sovrano was founded by Italian migrants Andrea Loggia and Marzia Turcato, who moved to New Zealand in 2007 with their son Paolo, 25. Older son Stefano followed in 2010; daughter Isabella was born three years ago.

The family had explored the country on a campervan holiday a few years earlier and taken a shine to the Bay of Islands. Contacts made at a Russell camping ground led Mr Loggia, who trained in Italy as a gas fitter, to a job for an Opua plumbing firm.

However, the family gained residency just as the economic downturn made permanent work hard to find. Making a business out of the family's five-generation tradition of making liqueur - especially limoncello, an Italian tipple made from lemon zest - had always been an option, but the recession forced their hand.

"Sometimes it's like when you go into the garden, you have to cut the old branches," Mr Loggia said.

Sovrano started producing limoncello seven years ago. More recently the company introduced orangello, a more subtle liqueur made from oranges, also in cream and original versions, as well as vodka and Caffelisir ("coffee elixir"). The coffee liqueur was selling "really, really well" to coffee-loving Kiwis, he said.

They have also made strawberry, licorice and even a basil liqueur.

All production still takes place in a double garage, where space has been pushed to its limits. The firm is looking for larger premises.

Everyone in the family is involved, with short-term help from backpackers when needed.

A small proportion of lemon zest used to make the liqueur comes from the family's modest Skudders Beach orchard but most fruit is bought from local growers. Mr Loggia put Sovrano's success down to a combination of passion, a refusal to compromise, and Kerikeri's "ideal" lemons.

He said Sovrano was now the country's biggest producer of limoncello, with sales via Kerikeri's weekend markets, a national distributor and directly to some restaurants. The company also exports to China, the US, Australia, Belgium and the Netherlands. Other awards won by Sovrano include medals from international tasting competitions in Chicago, San Francisco, London and Florida, with the Italian-born Kiwis regularly beating home-based Italians.