Provincia Gin

Merging tradition and terroir, Provincia Gin elevates indigenous botanical ingredients to conjure a vivid sensory passport into one of the world’s last wild places.

Provincia operates in Chile’s Colchagua Valley, which is home to twenty endemic botanicals unique to the world (but a mere jumping-off point for the Provincia team). Cofounder and head distiller Gustavo Carvallo came to distillation from a career in tourism while running a lodge in the valley (where he also spent childhood vacations with his future partners, Christian Silva and Nicolás Muñoz). Absorbing the traditions of Andean arrieros (pack animal handlers and foragers), Carvallo embraced the lodge’s farm-to-table mentality and found that creative exploration, both in food and beverage, came as naturally as breathing, especially in a region where the pristine air was perfumed with local flora and kissed with the music of rushing rivers. Distillation seemed a natural next step, and Carvallo and his partners conceived Provincia Gin in 2017, releasing the first bottles of gin produced at their Destilería Alto Colchagua to the Chilean market in 2018. In 2023, Provincia became the first South American distillery admitted into London’s prestigious Gin Guild.

After the COVID-19 pandemic, the three entrepreneurs set off on a trip to some of the most isolated regions of Chilean Patagonia. With the help of the local gauchos, historians, and indigenous communities, they found botanicals that had been traditionally used by the Aónikenk (the native Tehuelche people). After some trial runs with a tiny portable still in an old English estancia on the wind-scraped headland of Oazy Harbour, they returned to their home base in the Colchagua valley with a very clear sense of how they wanted to make their next spirit, Patagonia Gin.

Provincia’s Patagonia Gin is identifiably New Western in style. “Non-traditional” botanical ingredients—ingredients beyond the four-square roster of the classic London Dry—are its focus rather than its supporting cast. Hungarian juniper certainly provides a touchstone, but it’s enhanced by locally sourced rosemary and resinous ñirre shrub. Lime is brightened by the leaves of the native rhubarb plant. Tart blue berries from the calafate shrub, brimming with antioxidants, blend with white currants. Green chili, or Ají Cristal, and pink molle (a type of wild-foraged pink pepper) lend spice.

Notably, Provincia’s distillery is in an area where native trees have been historically harvested for charcoal production. Prioritizing responsible stewardship of the land, Provincia has made a commitment to helping reverse deforestation with a focus on replanting native species. Following a local fire that affected both the distillery and surrounding vegetation, the distillery began working with CONAF (the state forestry agency) to restore the trees around the property and to support the local community by teaching best practices for reforesting larger areas of this pre-Andean region.