Fuel for thought

Grappa, so the old gag went, came in two styles: leaded and unleaded. But a revival of the artisanal distillery scene has turned this into a high-class – and hugely varied – category. Cin cin! says Norman Miller

If a bar has specialised in selling just one spirit since 1779, you’d expect that spirit to be pretty damn good – but you might not expect it to be grappa. Like so many other spirit categories, grappa has image issues.

But stepping into Nardini’s Grapperia, in the Veneto town of Bassano del Grappa, I’m as taken by the quality of what’s being served as I am by the view – a postcard-perfect Palladian bridge, pastel buildings, the River Brenta, and the Alpine Monte Grappa that gave the town and the spirit their names.

Inside, a worn wooden bar sits in a stone-floored space filled with vintage distilling mementoes. A large holy picture behind the bar blesses the place where Ernest Hemingway took inspiration before writing A Farewell To Arms, and F Scott Fitzgerald mulled over possibilities for The Great Gatsby (or should it be the Great Grappsby?).

Bortolo Nardini bought the bar in the 18th century to show what his distillery could do with cast-offs – the grape skins, seeds and stalks known as pomace that are left over from winemaking.

From grape to grappa
The initial pale distillate of pomace is grappa bianca – a style that is today capable of subtlety and elegance, but in the past was often made from degraded, badly-distilled pomace.

Aged in wood, biancas become dusky riservas – rich, powerful, complex grappas. Grappa Poli’s 13-year-old Barrique is a great example of this category, and it’s a punt for open-minded whisky fans. Nardini’s 15-year-old can hold its head high among the cognoscenti as well.

If at least 85% of the pomace is single grape, the grappa can be designated a ‘varietal’ – a status-boosting line that was kick-started in 1973 by Giannola and Benito Nonino’s Muscat grappa. Moscato is still the best-known varietal, offering smooth dryness and floral notes that, as it happens, tempts gin lovers.

Flavoured grappas add further to the range, such as renowned honey versions by the likes of Nonino or the lemony slug of Nardini’s Acqua di Cedro.  ‘It doesn’t make sense to speak just of grappa,’ says Jacopo Poli, whose great-grandfather began the Poli brand in the 1890s, selling grappa off a mobile ‘distillery-on-a-cart’. ‘Each grappa depends on the grape, the soil, the year, even the effect of different stills. You have hundreds of varieties.’

In Bassano, bar lists run to 20 grappas, served in the porticos of glorious piazzas or down medieval cobbled lanes.

Shaking off that image
The reason grappa has clung to an image of peasant rotgut is that, well, for a long time most of it was peasant rotgut, distilled on farms as raw comfort against the brisk winter chill. ‘Then it became industrialised,’ bemoans Poli. Industrial production also took its toll on the artisan makers. ‘Around 70 million bottles were sold at grappa’s peak, but the quality was very poor.’

Eventually, the 1980s saw what Poli describes simply as ‘a miracle’. He adds: ‘Some consumers began to search for grappa made the old artisanal way, and the few small distillers that had survived were brought back to life. Even if people didn’t know the technical difference between good grappa and poor grappa, they knew there was a real difference.’

Poli has sought to guide consumers. The company has joined others to create an excellent website – grappa.com – as well as publishing a separate flavour chart, plotting different grappas against criteria such as dryness, aroma and fruitiness. Varietals are labelled by dominant characteristic, rather than grape, on the grounds that people unclear about grappa generally will be even less clear about specific pomaces. So Poli’s Merlot grappa is branded ‘Secca’ (dry); Moscato is ‘Morbida’ (smooth); Gewürztraminer ‘Aromatica’; and Pinot Noir ‘Elegante’.

Finally, Poli has created a signature cocktail for bartenders to push – the Holi Poli: 2 parts margarita mix, 1 part Poli honey grappa and ½ part strawberry liqueur shaken and served over ice. 

A different star of the world of grappa is veteran Vittorio Capovilla. Surrounded by orchards of pear, peach and cherry that supply his renowned fruit spirits, Capovilla’s rustic distillery is a shrine to purity of purpose. Scorning laws allowing grappa-makers to add things like 20g of sugar per litre he insists that simple ingredients stand alone.

Capovilla specifies vintages. His biancas are rested for several years in steel vats before bottling or going to cask; ‘harmonising not ageing,’ he stresses. Many bottles are hand-finished – sealed from bubbling pots of wax, with handwritten tags describing grape, year and qualities.

I’m not surprised Capovilla is the only distiller producing a grappa allowed to bear the tag ‘di Bassano’, made solely using local pomace.

A matter of margins
Unsurprisingly, this kind of care underpinning quality grappa costs dear. ‘If we’re selling to make a profit, grappa is challenging,’ sighs Agostino Perrone of the Connaught Bar in London’s Mayfair. Perrone is a big fan of the spirit – but then the Mayfair luxury of his pad is a long way from your average bar.

Alex Thorp expresses similarly venal sentiments at Fifteen. ‘The price of grappa means you’re aiming at a top-end drink. Even charging over £11 for our Grappa Caipirinha, we don’t make a margin.’
Grappa is still gaining fans at leading bars, however. Ian Stewart of The Rivoli Bar at The Ritz inspires customers with the likes of Tosolini’s oak-aged I Legni Rovere, for example. ‘We’re also playing around with things like burnt sugar, which goes well because of the raisin notes,’ he says.
Back at The Connaught, Perrone reels off his grappa takes. ‘A Pisco Sour done with grappa is sharp, rich and fresh. Or an aged grappa – smooth with vanilla notes – instead of a whisky, works wonders. And for guests who have been drinking Barolo with their meal, grappa is a perfect follow-on.’

Remember that old joke about grappa coming in two varieties – leaded and unleaded? Well, now the time has come to fill up with the good stuff.

Five to Try

Ascheri Grappa Viognier
43% abv. RRP £45.18. Wine Store, 0845 058 0021
Unusual varietal with complex aromas of apricot with spicy citrus and pleasing dryness.

Bepi Tosolini Tocai Castagno 90
40% abv. RRP £110. Eaux de Vie, 020 7724 5009
Super-premium vintage varietal aged in chestnut, with a fruity complexity that can easily rival XO Cognac.

Capovilla Bassano di Grappa
41% abv. RRP £29.28. Astrum Wine Cellars, 020 3328 4620
‘Honest and simple but truly amazing quality,’ Alex Thorp.

Nardini Ginepro Grappa
45% abv. RRP £34.67. Emporia Brands, 01483 458700
Infused with juniper and secret Alpine botanicals – tastes like a luscious gin underpinned by hints of grape.

Nardini Mandorla
50% abv. RRP £36.86. Emporia Brands, 01483 458700
Almond aroma, with vanilla notes, nicely balanced by cherry-infused distillate.

Editorial feature from Imbibe Magazine – November/December 2011

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