19 Feb Capovilla Distillery

It might surprise people to know that Italy as a country has relatively few spirits producers. Despite being a culture of great oenological renown, Italians seemed for a long while content to mostly ignore the modern distillation movement, or at the very least not engage with it in the same way as other European countries. Though they have a population of over 60 million, there are less than 120 distilleries in total. Compare that to Austria, which has over 100,000 licensees and only 9 million inhabitants. As you can imagine, the number of facilities helmed by talented producers dedicated to making exceptional products is smallest of all, but lucky for us we had an appointment at just such a place.

It was early evening when we pulled into the gravel parking lot at Capovilla. The facility is a quick 15-minute car ride from the center of Bassano del Grappa—the historic home to grappa—along flat roads decorated with cork oaks and cyprus trees. The sun had already begun to dip when we arrived, painting the sky in a swath of light pinks, and I could just make out the distant silhouettes of fruit trees in the four-hectare farm that borders the distillery and tasting room.

Capovilla was started in the 1970s by Vittorio Capovilla—who has since become a renowned producer of grappa and eau de vie—almost by accident. He had spent his formative years working as a Formula 1 mechanic in Central Europe, which helps to explain his keen interest in the machinery used by distillers. His curiosity was piqued, however, while speaking with factory workers in Italy who longed to make their own spirits but didn’t have access to the right equipment. Vittorio started researching how each element of a still affects the final output, from the metals to the shapes to the proportions involved. He first distilled pomace, or marc, from local Merlot and Cabernet grapes in 1975, and over the next 45 years he expanded his depth of knowledge and product lineup to include a number of different grappas, eau de vies, and rums.

After meeting a handful of staff at the distillery, many of whom were family members, we followed Vittorio out of his office and into the still room for a tour of their process, I spotted four large plastic totes waiting with tied up bags of red grape pomace still wet from vinification. Sourcing grapes of high quality is always necessary to produce a refined grappa. Capovilla sources their pomace from a variety of wineries around Europe, including Château d’Yquem in the southern part of Bordeaux, a historic Premier Cru producer of Sauternes.

Grappa is made by distilling fermented grape skins—called pomace, marc, or vinaccia—which are left over after the winemaking process. Exact winemaking techniques vary from place to place and between varietals, but they generally involve harvesting grapes and pressing them to separate the skins from the juice. Red grapes will be pressed following fermentation, but white wine juice is fermented after the press has already separated out the skins. For grappa production, it’s preferable to use grapes that have been lightly pressed by hydraulics, rather than heavy mechanical presses.

Decades ago, it was common for grappa distillers to have mobile stills that they would bring with them to each vineyard, but now you’re much more likely to find distilleries operating in one fixed location. Following the press, white wine grapes are usually taken to the distillery and fermented there; red wine grapes, which have already undergone fermentation with the juice, usually have a sufficient alcohol content to go directly into the still (typically ~4% ABV). Pomace is stored either in silos or in refrigerated areas with a layer of carbon dioxide pumped overtop for protection prior to going into the still.

Capovilla produces both grappa and fruit distillates, so their distillery is outfitted with a number of different stills. For grappa production, the pomace is placed into specialized stills using perforated copper baskets which are stacked one on top of the other. These stills are long and cylindrical, and they operate on a batch system, meaning they must be emptied, cleaned, and refilled with pomace before each distillation. Capovilla loads their pomace in as a solid without the addition of water, which is the traditional practice. Steam is injected directly into the bottom of the chamber and physically comes into contact with the grape skins, forcing any residual alcohol and flavor to evaporate and travel through the piping into a continuous or hybrid still at about 25% ABV. Once inside the column, alcohol vapors rise up through the plates, concentrating to roughly 75% ABV. After they reach the top of the column, they move into a condenser which brings the vapor back to liquid form. The resultant grappa flows through a device that calculates the ABV before the producer can make their cuts. Finally, the hearts or center cut flows through a government-controlled fiscal counter before ending its journey in a sealed receiver to await opening by the Customs Official following the calculation of Excise Duty owed.

Vittorio began his distilling career with grappa, but it wasn’t long before he was experimenting with fruit distillates—eau de vies or unaged brandies. In Germany and Austria, where distilling licenses are more common, farms almost always have a still on the property. Whatever fruit that can’t be sold or eaten will be distilled, as this will create another source of revenue for the family and prevent waste. Throughout his time traveling in these countries, Vittorio had the chance to sample a plethora of fruit distillates (not all of which were good) and ask questions of these producers whose families had been distilling for centuries. He brought the wisdom he picked up along the way back home with him to Italy to use on his own products.

Back in the day, it wouldn’t have been unusual for a farmer to throw some leftover fruit in a wooden barrel and allow it to spontaneously ferment for a couple of months before putting it in a basic alembic still and heating it with direct fire, but what was created by this process was a very rustic spirit. Capovilla uses a different approach. They select and mash in only high-quality fruit either from their own four-hectare organic farm or elsewhere. Vittorio has realized over the years that one of the keys to creating an exceptional spirit is to start with the best raw materials. He pays close attention not only to the practices of the farmers from whom he sources fruit but where certain fruits are cultivated best and when in their lifecycle they should be picked.

Following distillation, Capovilla’s spirits must be tested to make sure the concentration of methanol and other volatile substances is not too high for consumption. Fruit spirits generally have a high concentration of methanol because it’s produced by the effect that enzymes have on pectin, which is stored in cell walls, during the processing and storage of fermented fruit mash. As we snake our way through an airy room designated for bottling and labeling, Vittorio tells us about a device he invented to efficiently remove methanol, hydrogen cyanide, and other substances from finished spirits. Methanol is more volatile than ethanol, meaning it evaporates at a lower temperature. In a sealed chamber, the finished spirit is heated to a degree that the methanol evaporates but the ethanol does not. The vapor rises up and hits a conical lid, sliding down and collecting in a lip to be disposed of later.

After seeing the unique machine that Capovilla designed, we decided it was high time to try some spirits. Florian, Colton, and I followed Vittorio back to a room where all of the bottles are stored. Capovilla’s packaging is sparse, but no one could criticize it for being uninformative or plain. A handwritten card attached to each bottle includes information such as the variety of the grape, the year it was bottled, the ABV, and more. A wax embellishment is also added to each bottle, applied by hand, though it is by far the cleverest use of wax I’ve ever seen in the beverage industry: The wax seals the string holding the card to the bottle, and the string seals the bottle prior to purchase. Instead of sawing through a chunk of wax with a bottle opener, all you need is to snip the string and you can get to the good stuff.

In the small back office where our visit first began, Vittorio, Colton, Florian, and I clustered around a wooden table stained a dark brown. Outside night had fallen, and to my right, a single lamp was casting much of the room in dramatic shadow. Vittorio set out right away to make us an aperitif using his rhum agricole blanc, some lime, and an ice cube. Rhum Rhum has been produced in Guadeloupe by Vittorio in collaboration with Luca Gargano, a famous figure in the rum world, since 2004. They’ve released multiple expressions together, including some aged rums. Gargano is perhaps best-known for the classification system he created in 2015 which suggests rum be organized by raw material and production method.

The aperitifs were flavorful and bright, perfect for early evening. As we sipped on them, Vittorio began bringing out his grappas for us to sample. We tried their house grappa, an Amarone, a Barolo, an aged Amarone, and others before moving onto the eau de vies, including quince, summer muscat pears, and a tobacco distillate that was surprisingly easy to drink. Each product completely captured the essence of the material from which it was distilled. After much deliberation, we chose three bottles to take home: the Barolo grappa, a woody pear eau de vie, and the Rhum Rhum Blanc Agricole. Plans to rendezvous for a drink somewhere in town with Vittorio were made, and we three piled back into the van, elated smiles on all our faces. It was clear to us that we’d just experienced something truly special. This trip was off to a great start.