It was 1885 when a man called Francesco Trussoni came up with the idea to make the first single grape grappa in history, in a town called Gallo d’Alba. Being in the heart of Barolo country this was of course a Grappa di Barolo. In 1922 the distillery was taken over by Mario Montanaro and his wife Angela Trussoni who, together with their son Giuseppe Montanaro, perfected the grappa production process in the years that followed. Since this distillery is only a few kilometres away from our hilltop, I decided that it was time to go and have a look and learn more about this local specialty. Together with the Drover and his Dad, who both like a good glass of whiskey and know a fair bit about the whiskey distilling process, I went on a grappa adventure in the area.
Visiting a grappa distillery was a first for me. So far I have never really enjoyed the taste of grappa so much. Maybe because I had not developed the right taste for it yet, or because I had never tried a really good one? Whatever it was, I was very curious and interested to see the production process and taste the result of Montanaro’s yearlong experience. The young lady that welcomed us in the shop took us to the back to show the distillery. Here she explained that Mario Montanaro makes various single grape grappa’s and a grappa of a mix of different grape varieties. Between September and December the wineries in the area bring the ‘leftovers’ of their grapes to the distillery, after having crushed and pressed them for winemaking. From the end of September until March Montanaro is in full swing to distil he vinacce, the grape ‘leftovers’.
The production process is as follows: first the vinacce, existing of both grape skins and seeds, are being steamed for an hour or so in big copper pots, called alambicche. From here the water-alcohol mix, in the form of vapor, is brought via a long tube to a pair of distillation columns. In the first column the temperature is about 90 degrees, whereas the second column is only 82 degrees. In these distillation columns the bad alcohol, methanol, is being separated from the good alcohol, the grappa. The next step is to cool the grappa down in a tank that brings the temperature back to 15 degrees. After the cooling down process the grappa is being stored for six months in inox (stainless steel) tanks, which is the minimum time for a good grappa to age. The real long aging, however, takes place in oak barrels, where grappa can be aged for as many years as the mastro distillatore requires. This traditional distilling process, where the so called discontinuous alambicche al vapore (steam) are being used, is a slow process and makes it only possible to make small quantities of high quality grappa.
Now knowing how grappa is being made, it was time for a little degustazione, a tasting. I already really liked the smell in the distillery, so I was very curious to smell and taste the final results coming from this master grappa maker (and at the moment the distilling has not started yet; imagine what it must smell like when distilling starts in a little while from now!). The first grappa we tried was a Grappa di Arneis, made from purely Arneis vinacce. This grappa has not been aged in oak barrels but has only spent the six months in inox tanks. The drink has no colour, since the colour comes with longer aging in oak. The grappa has a very strong and fruity perfume, while the flavour was actually quite mild and delicate. I could immediately feel that strong alcohol going through my body on the early morning, which is not very surprising with a 43 degrees alcohol percentage!
The Grappa Barolo “Cannubi” has been aged for four years in oak barrels, and has a beautiful light brown, caramel colour. This grappa is made with only the vinacce of Nebbiolo grapes that come from the Barolo crus called Cannubi (a specific area within the Barolo area) and has an alcohol percentage of 43 degrees. The flavour is intense, but smooth and a little bit sweet. An immediate favourite of the Drover and his Dad! The Grappa Barolo “Riserva Annate” has been aged for 15 years and has an intense dark colour. Although the colour is darker and the flavour is quite intense, the perfume of the grappa is a lot less strong than the other two. Next to these three types of grappa that we have tasted, Mario Montanaro also makes grappa from the other most famous Piemontese grape varieties like Dolcetto, Barbera and Moscato.
Something completely different that I wanted to try for a while already is another local specialty: Barolo Chinato. This is a Barolo wine infused with the bark of the china tree (quina or cinchona) and a mix of spices that is a secret of every Barolo Chinato maker. Montanaro infuses the Barolo for 20 to 30 days and the result is a digestive that is very spicy and perfumed, with a medicinal flavour. It first tastes sweet in the front of your mouth, to end with a bitter taste in the back. The men were no fans, but I quite liked it. Although I have to admit, I like it even more when combined with 75% dark chocolate to make the most amazing gelato, like they do in our local gelateria.
Later that day, after a light dinner at home (very light, since we had a 12 course lunch in an amazing osteria on another hilltop in the area – more about this next time!), we went to the gelateria where I got myself a very small scoop of Barolo Chinato con Cioccolato Fondente that I enjoyed very slowly and con molto gusto while going for a little passeggiata to the top of the hill. The moon was full and the view of the vineyards at night was as beautiful as always. Very slowly we saw the fog, la nebbia, coming up in the hills; a sign that the Piemontese autumn is starting and that it is time for the nebbiolo grapes to be harvested. With a little glass of Grappa Barolo Cannubi to warm us up, the Drover and me will be ready to confront many cold autumn nights to come.
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