Grappa Today

  Italo Calvino, a famous Italian writer, once wrote that grappa was fit only for "defrocked priests, unemployed bookkeepers, and husbands that have been cuckolded." Traditionally, made from pomace, the discarded grape seeds, stalks, and stems that are a by-product of the winemaking process, Grappa has been around since the Middle Ages. Italy's fiercest liquor was little more than rotgut quaffed by peasants who wanted to make something mind-bending out of leftovers from wine-making. Manager of Epic Lounge, Christian Cocco, once described it to me as sipping flavored gasoline.

  Or perhaps more like scented moonshine, for generations, Italians have sipped it after meals, even spicing up their morning espresso. Once considered an acquired taste, popular only in Italy, Grappa, today, is making itself known around the world. It's now made from single varietals, housed in extravagant bottles like perfume, and often sold to connoisseurs for $150 and up.


Grappa: Italy's Elixir

  Like all great wines and liquors, Grappa gets its name from a quaint town, Bassano del Grappa, a town of around 40,000 residents in Italy's northern Veneto region. Grappa started as a by-product of the Italian winemaking trade, a rough drink made with what was available, potent enough to get the farmers through the cold winter months. It was good at warming you up, but not particularly tasty.


Today's Grappa

  The character of Grappa changed in the 1960s, thanks, largely to the efforts of one woman - Giannola Nonino. Her Nonino distillery, in Percoto Italy, has been producing Grappa since 1897. In the early 1970s, she began making Grappa from a single grape, as opposed to the customary mélange of grape leftovers. She sought to make a quality drink, one to rival the great eaux-de-vie of France. Thirty years later, the food critic Frank Bruni would hail Nonino grappa as a "crystalline nectar," while relaying the maker's triumphal words in The New York Times: "I have changed grappa from a Cinderella to a queen."

  The Nonino Distillery's first single grape Grappa was crafted from the Picolit grape. Today, over a dozen different grapes are used for single grape Grappas, called "monovitigno" Grappas, a term Ms. Nonino coined herself. In 1984, the same Nonino distillery gained government approval and began producing a higher quality Grappa made from whole fruit. They began with grapes and in the following years, produced products using cherries, pear, apricot, peach, and raspberry, among other fruits. Seeking a way to show off their new products, Nonino is also responsible for the stylish glass bottles in which Grappa today is sold, a dramatic change from the old medicinal-style bottles.


Drinking Grappa

  Traditionally, Grappa is served chilled in small glasses and served after the meal, as the Italians believe that it aids digestion. Correctly, Grappa should be swirled gently in the glass and then brought to your nose, before tasting. It is then tasted in small sips. In Italy, Grappa is also added to espresso to make a "Café Corretto," a popular after-dinner concoction. In the United States, you'll find Grappa at higher-end Italian restaurants and retailers. If you've never tried Grappa, you're in for a treat. It's a fiery, but tasty beverage, just the thing for a cold winter's night.


Other Grappa makers

  Here are a few great Grappa makers to get your palette started.

	Paolo Marolo Paolo Marolo creates this distinctive grappa from the fresh pomace of Piemontese Moscato grapes fermented immediately after crushing. The distillation process retains the richness of the aromas and the freshness of the grapes, producing a grappa with an intense and vivacious fragrance, a broad array of full flavors on the palate, and a soft and persistent finish. marolo.com
	Winemaker Maria Borio of the Cascina Castle't winery Passum Grappa is distilled using the pomace (skins and pulp) of grapes that have been pressed to make Passum, widely regarded as the top dried-grape Barbera d'Asti (Piedmont). vinositeshop.com
	Acquavite Nardini Bortolo Nardini has been making its Acquavite in Bassano del Grappa since 1779. This left is a fragrant white double steam-distilled grappa made from the pomace of Pinot, Tocai and Cabernet grapes harvested in the hills and foothills area of the Veneto and Friuli regions of Italy. nardini.it