I'd be grateful to establish the line to which, but beyond which, I cannot go.
Here, in France, things alcoholic are very different from the UK. In consequence, I am able to produce my own cider, wines and spirits within the law. Indeed a large proportion of the French population view that as being their inalienable right. After all, I think that I am correct in saying that after the Revolution, it was Napoleon who granted to his soldiers the right to distill their own spirit without having to pay the state for the right to do so. Such would have smacked of the 'ancien regime'!
I could take my cider or my wine to the distillateur ambulante who, using machinery that those in the UK would have to see to believe, will distill that to produce an eau-de-vie. However those are not the 'base' wines that, in this part of France, commonly are used to produce eau-de-vie. Thus each year I - along with many of my neighbours - harvest plums from my own trees and others who do not use them. Pears and, less commonly, cherries, quinces and figs are also used. These are crushed and left to ferment using the natural yeasts on their skins. That's all I use - but if you want to promote a raging debate in the local bar, just ask if people think that sugar should or should not be added to raise the OG. There are the purists and those who like their eau-de-vie in excess of 50% abv! After a few days of aerobic fermentation, the lid goes on the 250 litre barrel but it is not screwed down until fermentation is complete. And there it rests, in the old bakery, until the distillateur ambulante arrives in town, usually the following February. Because I don't add sugar, my 250 litres of plum wine will yield about 20 to 25 litres of plum eau-de-vie of about 45% abv. However this year I have sourced several hundred kilos of mirabelle plums and the brix reading suggests that their OG is quite high (we have had a long, dry, hot summer here). So who knows how much and of what abv my eau-de-vie will be next year!
Well I hope that I have not over stepped the mark for I have only related what quite legally happens here in France and I have not said anything about the actual distillation process. At the risk of stating the obvious, I will say that I presume it is not open to British residents to bring their wine to France, to have it distilled here and then taken back to the UK. But I hope that this post is interesting and educative to those whose hobby is the home production of alcoholic beverages in the UK. But if it disappears quickly and I find myself banned, I will assume that freedom of speech within the EU does not always extend to the places that I think it might!