Grappa gets searched for as a liquor, a liqueur and a brandy, and the shelf does not help. One bottle is clear and says giovane, the next is amber and says riserva, a third says grappa di prosecco, and a fourth is a soft peach coloured thing at 32 per cent with grappa in its name. Every one of those words means something specific, and most are in the law.
This guide covers what grappa is, why it has to be Italian, what the label words mean, how to drink it, and where to start. The grappa based liqueurs get their own section, because they are a different product.
What grappa is, and what it is not
Grappa is a spirit, not a liqueur. Under the European spirit drinks regulation it belongs to the category called grape marc spirit: a drink distilled from grape marc, the skins and seeds left over after grapes have been pressed for wine, with the marc itself in the still. The category has a minimum strength of 37.5 per cent, permits no added alcohol, and caps any sweetening at 20 grams of sugar a litre. A liqueur starts at 15 per cent and in the general case must carry at least 100 grams of sugar a litre. If a bottle is legally called grappa, it is a dry spirit at 37.5 per cent or more.
Nor is it brandy in the everyday sense. Brandy is distilled from wine; grappa from what is left after the wine has been drawn off, which is why it tastes of grape skin rather than of wine. Its French cousin, made the same way, is called marc.
The rule that it must be Italian
Grappa is a protected geographical indication. Italy's technical file for the name, set by ministerial decree in 2011 and replaced by a revised file in force from August 2016, reserves the word for grape marc spirit made from grapes grown and vinified in Italy, and distilled and processed in plants on Italian territory. Every stage from the still to the reduction with water has to happen inside the country. The 2016 revision also dropped a requirement, written into the 2011 file but postponed year after year and never applied, that bottling take place in Italy, after the European Commission objected to it.
The same file names nine further geographical indications, each registered in its own right with its own rules: Grappa Piemontese or del Piemonte, Grappa Lombarda, Grappa Trentina, Grappa Friulana, Grappa Veneta or del Veneto, Südtiroler Grappa or dell'Alto Adige, Grappa Siciliana, Grappa di Barolo and Grappa di Marsala.
How the pomace is distilled
The marc, fully or partly fermented, is distilled either directly with steam or after water has been added to the still with the marc. The stills can be continuous or batch, but the marc has to be present in the first distillation, and every distillation has to stop short of 86 per cent alcohol. That low ceiling is the point. Neutral alcohol comes off at 96 per cent or more with almost everything except ethanol stripped out. Stopping below 86 keeps the volatile compounds that carry the grape's aroma; the file requires at least 140 grams of them per hectolitre of pure alcohol.
A limited amount of wine lees may go into the still with the marc, no more than 25 kilograms per 100 kilograms, and no more than 35 per cent of the finished alcohol may come from them. After distillation the spirit is brought to strength with water, chilled and filtered, and may be blended across batches. No alcohol from any other source may be added at any stage.
Reading the label
Giovane, bianca. Neither word appears in the technical file. In practice they are trade descriptions for grappa that has not been in wood: clear, and tasting of the grape rather than the barrel.
Vecchia or invecchiata. The first legal age terms, and they mean the same thing: at least 12 months in casks, vats or other wooden containers that are neither varnished nor lined, in ageing warehouses under fiscal control.
Riserva or stravecchia. At least 18 months in wood under the same conditions. The difference between the tiers is six months, so a riserva is not necessarily a very old spirit; where the label states a longer age, that number is what matters.
Barrique, tonneau, caratello. The type of container may be named only if the grappa spent at least half of its category's minimum period in it, so a riserva that says barrique has spent at least nine months in barrique.
Colour. Caramel is permitted only in grappa aged at least 12 months, and only as a colourant. An amber grappa with no plant or fruit named on the label has been in wood.
Monovitigno and the grape name. A grappa may carry the name of a single grape variety, with a tolerance of up to 15 per cent of other varieties by weight. It may carry two grape names if made entirely from those two, listed in descending order of weight, with no grape under 15 per cent named. Monovitigno, single variety, is the trade word for the first case, and a grappa di moscato or di vermentino is telling you which grape the pomace came from.
Grappa di Prosecco, di Amarone, di Brunello, di Chianti. These name a wine rather than a grape. The file allows a grappa to carry the name of a DOC, DOCG or IGT wine when the marc came from grapes used to make that wine, and forbids DOC, DOCG, IGT, DOP or IGP, as initials or spelled out, from appearing on the grappa label. So grappa di amarone is made from the skins of the grapes that went into Amarone, and grappa di brunello from the skins that came off a Brunello di Montalcino fermentation.
Aromatised grappa. The file permits aromatic plants and fruit, or parts of them, added by traditional methods, and requires the plant or fruit to be named in the sales description. Rue is a common example. Anything beyond that is not grappa.
The grappa we carry
Venegazzu Grappa di Prosecco at 40 per cent is the bottle to start with. It is Distilleria Negroni's Grappa di Monovitigno Prosecco in the 500ml bottle: clear, unaged, and built to carry the aroma of the grape. Negroni describes sending the fresh skins promptly to the still so the varietal character survives, and the result as brilliant, fresh on the nose and smooth on the palate. The distillery is at Mareno di Piave in the province of Treviso, in the Veneto.
Zenato Grappa di Amarone is the Veneto's other grappa idea. Zenato's is distilled in direct steam pot stills from the pomace of grapes that have just been crushed for its Amarone. Zenato bottles it at 45 per cent, describes underbrush and red fruit on the nose with a smooth, balanced palate, and recommends serving it at around 15 degrees in a large glass.
Frescobaldi Grappa di Brunello is the Tuscan answer. Frescobaldi sells it under its Tenuta CastelGiocondo label, the Montalcino estate where its Brunello is made, and describes it as pot distilled from the fresh Sangiovese pomace of that Brunello di Montalcino production, with a delicate, persistent nose and a clean, creamy palate. Frescobaldi suggests it at the end of a meal, with dark chocolate.
How to drink it
A small tulip or wine glass rather than a tumbler, and a small measure. Young, unaged grappa is served cold, around nine to twelve degrees, and aged grappa closer to room temperature; Zenato suggests around 15 degrees for its Amarone grappa. Let it sit a minute, then sip rather than shoot.
After dinner is the traditional place. A coffee with a small measure of spirit added is what Italians call a caffè corretto, and grappa suits it. In cocktails, a young grappa can replace the spirit in a sour or a highball; keep the aged bottles for the glass.
Grappa liqueurs, which are not grappa
Grappa liquor and grappa liqueur are two different questions. A grappa is the spirit described above. A grappa liqueur is a sweetened, usually flavoured liqueur that uses grappa as its alcohol base. European rules let a liqueur refer to grappa on the label only if all of its added alcohol comes from grappa, among other conditions, but the product is legally a liqueur, at liqueur strength and sweetness, and has to be sold under that name.
We carry two from Distilleria Negroni, the same house as the Prosecco grappa. Both are labelled as liqueurs and bottled at 32 per cent.
Distilleria Negroni Persica Grappa e Pesca is a peach liqueur on a grappa base, sweet where the grappa is dry. Serve it cold, on its own or with soda.
Distilleria Negroni Liquore alla Camomilla con Grappa is made, in Negroni's words, by infusing chamomile flowers gathered in the Cadore mountains in grappa, and drinks like a gentle herbal digestivo.
Where to start
- Never had grappa: Venegazzu Grappa di Prosecco, clear, single variety, and the gentlest way in.
- Want a bigger, more aromatic glass: Zenato Grappa di Amarone.
- Want the Tuscan version, for after dinner: Frescobaldi Grappa di Brunello.
- Want a liqueur, not a spirit: Distilleria Negroni Persica Grappa e Pesca or Distilleria Negroni Liquore alla Camomilla con Grappa.
Zenato, Frescobaldi and the rest of the Italian grappa range sit on our Grappa page, the Prosecco grappa is linked above, and the liqueurs are on our Liqueurs page, and we deliver to every Australian state and the ACT.