Getting to grips with grappa

guido · Site Admin Joined: Oct 18, 2004 Posts: 377 Location: Italy

Hallo All,
I just found this article on the Wine Telegraph ( www.telegraph.co.uk/wine/), and I think I could not write it better.
Some nice informations about the most known italian spirit.

The Nardini family have been making the Italian spirit for more than two centuries – and it shows, writes Jonathan Ray

The last time I drank grappa - about a dozen years ago, in some vile and disreputable dive in Venice - it looked, smelled and tasted like pink paraffin.

My companion went so far as to describe it as "like drinking burp". I was as sick as a dog, my ensuing headache lasted for days and I vowed never to go near the stuff again.

The other week, I discovered that I had just had a glass of this evil spirit without realising it. It was delicious - intense and dry, with a vaguely sweet finish that hinted at almonds. The bottle had no mention of the dreaded word grappa on it and I wasn't sick afterwards. The label simply said "Bevanda spiritosa alla mandorla" (almond-infused grappa).

The company that makes this lovely stuff is Bartolo Nardini, a family-owned concern based in the striking medieval town of Bassano del Grappa, at the foot of the Alps in Vicenza, north-eastern Italy. Founded in 1779, Nardini is the leading brand of high-quality grappa and its annual production of four million bottles accounts for a quarter of the world market.

The company is run by four Nardini cousins - Giuseppe, Cristina, Angelo and Antonio - and it is the latter two who lead me astray on my recent visit. I come clean to them about my previous disagreeable experiences.

"Even in respected brands, there are oils of low digestibility that lead to headaches and stomach burn," says Antonio.

"At Nardini, we take great care to remove these and I believe that we are the only producer to do so. This might explain why we are the market leader."

The region is renowned for its radicchio and white asparagus, but more especially for its grappa. So celebrated has this spirit become that many visitors assume that the town and nearby Monte Grappa are named after the spirit, rather than the other way around.

In fact, the local spirit was known as aquavite or acqua vitae until the 1950s, when it came to be known as grappa. Some say that the name derives from the Latin word for bunch of grapes, grappulus.

Bassano has had a troubled history thanks to its strategic position at the foot of the Alps and its bridge across the River Brenta. During the Napoleonic Wars, the town was twice occupied by the French and twice by the Austrians, who stayed for 50 years until the region was joined to the new kingdom of Italy in 1866. There was much bloodshed there during the two world wars and it was the retreating Germans who destroyed the Ponte Vecchio.

This beautiful, covered bridge, originally constructed in the 13th century, had been rebuilt by Andrea Palladio in 1569 and it was to his plans that it was rebuilt in 1947. Nardini has had its office and grapperia (tasting room and grappa bar) at the eastern end of the bridge since its foundation. You can still see the bullet holes left by Napoleon's soldiers in the walls outside.

"Our grapperia is very popular," says Angelo Nardini. "We open at 8am every day so that people can have a quick sharpener on their way to work. In winter, our older customers appreciate this because our grappa is very comforting and warming."

Strange, but true, the Scots don't drink as much whisky as the French, the French don't drink as much Cognac as the English, and the English don't drink as much gin as the Venezuelans, who don't drink as much rum as just about anybody else. The Italians, however, do drink more grappa than anyone else in the world.

Grappa is not distilled from base wine, in the manner of Cognac or Armagnac, but from grape pomace - the gubbins comprised of the skins and pips left after fermentation. The grape varieties used are Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Tocai, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris, and the blend is usually about 65 per cent red grape and 35 per cent white.

The pomace is brought to the distillery and put in vast boilers where steam is used to extract the alcoholic content. Although the spirit is most closely associated with this region - grappa has been made in Bassano for more than 1,600 years - it is now made throughout Italy.

On the principle of "When in Rome . . .", I allow myself to be persuaded to have a corretto. This is a shot of espresso coffee "corrected" by the addition of a 20ml shot of grappa. It slips down an absolute treat. Like a pair of giggling schoolboys, Antonio and Angelo Nardini suggest that I follow this up with a rasentin. A cup of sweetened espresso is put in front of me, alongside a glass of grappa.

"Down the coffee in one and then swill the grappa around the empty cup and down that," says Antonio. I do so and the blend of the pungent spirit, lingering coffee and crunchy granules of sugar combine in an almost perfect taste sensation. Added to which, no doubt due to the caffeine, I find that my head is spinning in a really rather pleasant manner.

"Could I try another one?" I ask. "Perhaps with the almond-flavoured mandorla."

"We'll make a local of you yet," says Antonio, turning to give his cousin a slap on the back and a handshake. I try to stand, but suddenly prefer to remain sitting, at which point I realise that I have just been had. Perhaps a corretto and two rasentins before 10am is a little excessive..

Guido.
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In vino veritas!