Distillation

In Bassano and Schiavon, the question isn't whether the Grappa goes into the still, but how. The pomace, solid and moist, goes into a copper still—unlike with fruit brandy, there's no liquid that can simply be heated. Under EU law, the first distillation must take place with the pomace present, using steam or with water added.

The vapor flows through the pomace, picking up alcohol and aromatic compounds as it rises into the still's head, then condenses back into liquid in the cooler. According to the house, Nardini works with a steam distillery, while Poli uses old copper stills with steam boilers in batch operation. That means: batch by batch, fill, distill, empty, refill.

What drips from the cooler isn't uniform. Distillers separate three parts: testa, the heads with volatile, sharp compounds; cuore, the heart, which goes into the bottle; and coda, the tails with heavy, oily components. Where they draw the cuts shapes a house's style and explains why one grappa tastes different from another.

A common misconception concerns methanol: it isn't found solely in the heads, since it comes from the pectin in the skins. Separating the heads only partially reduces it, which is why legal maximum limits apply to pomace brandy and are subject to control.

In the end, the distillate sits well above drinking strength, as every distillation must remain under 86 percent alcohol under EU law. The grappa is then cut with water down to the usual 40 to 45 percent, with a legal minimum of 37.5 percent. Distilling is a craft requiring official permission, not a home project, and in Germany it's prohibited without authorization.