Grappa is the spirit Italy makes from what is left of the grape after pressing, and this one is bottled under the Botti di Grappa Stravecchia name, which tells the drinker what it is before the cork comes out: stravecchia means extra old, botti means barrels. The base is pomace, the skins, pulp and seeds left behind once the juice has gone to wine. In the north of Italy that pomace is distilled rather than thrown away, and the result is a clear, intensely aromatic spirit that carries the grape back into the glass.
- Grappa, distilled from grape pomace.
- Stravecchia, the Italian term for extra old.
- Botti, barrels, where the ageing happens.
- A northern Italian tradition, not a wine.
How it is made
Grappa starts as pomace, the damp mass of skins, stems and seeds left after the grapes are pressed for wine. It is fermented and then distilled, most often in small copper stills worked in batches. The spirit comes off the still clear and fierce, and it is the barrel that changes everything after that: time in wood softens the edges, deepens the colour and pulls the raw fruit into something rounder.
How it tastes
Young grappa is sharp and grapey, all skin and heat. A stravecchia has had years in cask to settle down, so the aroma moves toward dried fruit, vanilla, spice and a faint resinous note from the wood. The grape is still there underneath, but it reads drier and longer, with a warm, persistent finish rather than a raw burn.
Good to know
Grappa has protected status in the European Union: it can only be made in Italy, and only from pomace produced there. The name itself is controlled, which is why a bottle from anywhere else is not grappa, however it is made. In the north, where the vineyards run from Piedmont across to Friuli and the Veneto, distilling the pomace was for centuries a way of wasting nothing from the harvest.
