Since 2022, CAVE SA has been the official importer of Chartreuse in French-speaking Switzerland.Founded in 1084, the Carthusian Order is one of the oldest monastic orders in Christianity. It was founded by Bruno, who was born in Cologne around 1030. A highly esteemed professor and later rector of the cathedral school of Rheims, he was at the height of his fame when he decided to follow what he considered to be his true vocation: to leave the world and honours in order to live for God alone and "embrace the monastic life". With six friends and after several unsatisfactory attempts, he came to Grenoble, attracted by the reputation of the young bishop Hugh. In a dream, he saw God building a house for his glory in the heart of a mountain called "Chartreuse", a place so sparsely inhabited that it was nicknamed "the desert"; seven stars showed him the way. Seeing in the arrival of Bruno and his six friends the response of Providence to this mysterious dream, he led his visitors there. It was June 1084 and Bruno recognised in this solitary place the place he was looking for. It would be the site of the future Grande Chartreuse. Wooden cells were quickly built, with a gallery linking them to a chapel and some buildings intended for community life, because Bruno thought it was necessary to combine the rigour of a solitary life with an element of fraternal and therefore collegiate life. A few centuries later, in 1605, Marshal François Hannibal d'Estrées gave the Carthusian Fathers of the Chartreuse de Vauvert in Paris a mysterious manuscript containing the formula for an Elixir of Long Life. The Carthusian monks used all their science to decipher the grimoire and their patient work finally came to fruition when Brother Jérôme Maubec, apothecary of the Grande-Chartreuse, perfected an Elixir with incomparable virtues. Very quickly, the need to turn this powerful remedy with its exceptional fragrance into a digestive drink that was particularly pleasant to drink became obvious. The famous liqueur was born, and so began a story full of twists and turns. Since the beginning, 130 herbs and plants have been essential for the production of Chartreuse liqueurs. Only two brothers, designated by their Order, know the names and have learned how to blend and distil them. They alone hold the secret of how to obtain the world-famous green and yellow colours naturally by maceration of certain plants. Assisted by an experienced team of laymen, Dom Benoît and Brother Jean-Jacques also oversee the slow ageing in tuns and demi-muids in the cellar of the new Aigue-Noire site. Inaugurated in August 2019, the cellar and distillery are equipped with the latest technological advances.