La Salamandre Apéritif Le Prunier

Raymond Gatinel started Distillerie La Salamandre in 1970 in Sarlat-la-Canéda, four kilometres from the medieval centre of the Périgord Noir's main town. The Gatinel family had been farmers — tobacco and a small dairy herd — and Raymond bought a portable still and worked as a distiller-itinerant during the winter months, transforming local farmers' fermented fruit into eau-de-vie. The Salamandre business grew from that original mobile operation. Raymond's son Jacques joined in the mid-1970s and the line widened from straight eaux-de-vie into liqueurs and fruits-in-eau-de-vie.

In March 2026 Aude Gatinel (33) and her cousin Julie Fourcade (39) took over the business from the second generation, becoming the third generation of Gatinel-family distillers. The fruit base is Périgord and Southwest French: pears (Williams), plums (mirabelle, quetsch), cherries, apricots, raspberries, blueberries, walnuts (a regional speciality). The range covers eaux-de-vie, fruit liqueurs, aperitifs, fruits-in-eau-de-vie (the regional bottled-fruit speciality) and a small French single-malt whisky. Production stays small; the house describes itself as an artisan distillery.