What is the difference between moonshine and grappa

Take the time and money to find the quality brands such as Nonino, Bocchino, Berta or Bepi Tosolini as they are well worth the effort and are a wonderful spirit. Grappa can be made from a mixture of pomaces, or vinaccia as the Italians call it, the skins of grapes remaining after the grapes have been pressed to make wine, from different sources or from one grape variety.

Carefully selected vinaccia is taken to the distillery as soon as the wine has been drawn off, and the stalks are removed. The stalks should not be used in production, although the rubbish producers throw it all in and you can really taste it straight away in the final product.

This is the first stage in making top-quality Grappa. There are some exceptions to this, as some distilleries may also use the seeds and small quantities of pulp. The fresher and softer the pomace is, the better the final Grappa will be.

Ideally, the leftovers should be collected and fermented within 24 to 48 hours after the wine has been drawn off. The next stage is to put the vinaccia into stainless steel tanks Nonino has exceptionally beautiful tanks! The grape skins naturally collect yeast at the vineyard, therefore it is important to constantly control the use of the yeast during this process.

Both temperatures and pH levels are carefully controlled. The vinaccia from red grapes has already undergone alcoholic fermentation during wine making as the skins are left with the juice during fermentation to give the red colour to the wine. It can therefore be distilled immediately when making Grappa.

The vinaccia from white grapes, on the other hand, does not contain ethanol but contains sugars that are fermented by spontaneous anaerobic fermentation during their storage period. The final part of the process is the ageing in different wooden barrels. After ageing, the distillates are bottled without the addition of flavour and colour additives. However, some companies purchase full-proof Grappa from another company and dilute it with demineralised water, which, sadly, allows them, by law, to claim it as their own.

Grappa Moonshine or Fine spirit? I talian Grappa is taken like French Brandy or Spanish Sherry, but remains very much in their shadow as it is considered by many to be nothing more than branded moonshine. Italian restaurants all over the world serve this spirit made from leftovers, the vinaccia from wine production.

Having had a number of bad experiences with Grappa myself, I decided to travel to the roots of one of the first distilleries in Percoto, Udine, in the north-east of Italy. I wanted to understand why this horrid drink was popular in Italy and how much of a moonshine it actually was. The drive from Venice to Percoto was fantastic: the sun was shining, the sky was blue and the Dolomites on the horizon looked absolutely stunning. How can anything produced in this environment be considered moonshine?

The first thing you need to understand about Grappa is that unlike almost any other mainstream spirit produced around the world, Grappa remains unregulated. This is no doubt one of the biggest single contributory factors to its mixed reputation worldwide.

During my background research I had discovered that there were a few vocal opponents against this, who believed Grappa was a high-quality spirit, and were constantly pushing for a standardised approach and proper quality control for all Grappas. None more so than the Nonino family, so I was delighted when I was first greeted by Antonella on my arrival. She is one of the daughters of Giannola and Benito Nonino, the Italian power couple who have repeatedly challenged the whole Grappa industry and are still producing what they believe to be top-quality Grappa straight from their own backyard.

The Nonino brand has been in the same family since the very beginning, So it was special that someone as passionate and knowledgeable as Antonella took me around the distillery and explained the whole process of production.

She explained how they re-established the distillery in Ronchi di Percoto in , where Orazio Nonino first started the production of Nonino Grappa as a drink for his friends and neighbours around the area. There was clearly more to this moonshine issue than meets the eye!! Grappa production should take place only a few months a year when the pomace is freshly collected from the winemakers, and ideally within 24 to 48 hours after the wine has been drawn off.

Antonella stressed this point repeatedly; anything after 48 hours and the skins will already begin to ferment and turn — Grappa has a very small window before it will pick up the bitterness and overpowering taste I had found when tasting many Grappas in the past. At Nonino, they do NOT use the stalks. Indeed, they had an elaborate-looking machine for the specific purpose of separating just the skin, again making me wonder about what I had been drinking in the past! Nonino is fanatical about the process and the production and only uses artisanal methods, respecting traditions by keeping on top of each stage until the bottling takes place.

Unfortunately, not all Grappa producers feel the same. In she had an idea to produce only single-variety Grappa to enhance the flavour of the drink. They produced the first monovitigno from the picolit grape and it was such a success it has since changed the method of producing Grappa in Italy and foreign distilleries.

The Noninos collect the vinaccia from different wineries to make Grappa from merlot, prosecco, muscat, chardonnay and many other grape varieties. They purchased their own plot to grow picolit, which also helped Giannola to come up with another idea. In they tried to distil the whole picolit grape and created another success in Grape Distillate UE. Today the company is run by Giannola and Benito, who are both still working full time — Giannola always on the frontline, leaving husband Benito working hard on the production side.

Amazingly, their three daughters, Antonella, Elisabetta and Christina, all travel around the world marketing Nonino products and holding tastings to educate people on Grappa.

Their challenge is to explain the correct ways of producing Grappa and help people to understand the difference between their products and the horrid stuff that has unfortunately been served to many fools like you and me worldwide. The final part of the day with Antonella was to finally taste the Nonino Grappa the family is so proud of.

When entering the beautiful tasting rooms I was hoping the Grappa would not taste like any other poor product that is out there, or else my exit from the distillery might have been uncomfortable considering Antonella had to drive me back afterwards.

To my relief, I could not have been more wrong, as the Nonino Grappa was absolutely fantastic. Each variety I tried during the tasting was much better than I expected.

Nonino products are suitable for many occasions, not just for serving after dinner in a restaurant. They really should rethink their marketing to reach the right customers and expand their markets.

Just a thought. I had the honour of meeting both Benito and Elisabetta as they joined us for more drinks. To finish off the day we were served a five-course lunch with matching Grappas.