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The 2025 Agricultural Salon, which takes place at the Porte de Versailles in Paris, closed on Sunday, March 2, and featured various special events as well as competitions. Such as the one for producers of rum and rum punch, in which five punch flavors made by Ginette Rio (Les Punch Gigi in Corossol) were presented. And three of them won medals! A gold in the “spice dominance” category for her Shrub punch; a silver for her passionfruit punch in the “passionfruit dominance” category; and a bronze in the “mango dominance” category. Three awards that are bound to make you thirsty!
On the website for Chez Ginette, the prize winner writes: "It was in1972 that I decided to work for myself and I started to make flavored rums. Ambitious and innovative, I opened a local bar and restaurant called Chez Ginette, which over the years became a popular spot on the island. I invented my first flavored rum, “coco punch,” a cocktail with coconut and white agricultural rum, which gave me notoriety on the island. The concept of my restaurant was to have people taste my creations and sell them directly to my faithful clients as well as visitors such as Coluche (a friend of my husband), Gautier, Jean Marie Rivière, Noah, Gotainer, Becaud, Charlelie Couture, Claude Zidi, Charles Dumont. In the 1990’s, I wanted to diversify and invented different flavored rums, innovating with flowers such as red hibiscus and aromatic herbs such as local thyme. Starting in 2000, I added sweet flavors to my range of rums, such as chocolate cookie, cinnamon shortbread, and tiramisu to surprise the tastebuds. Starting without two nickels to rub together, today my little business counts more than 100 varieties of homemade punch, marrying exotic fruit with citrus, and including bark, agave, candy, nuts, and of course fruits from St Barth."
