Grappa・Romano Levi 1997 Sage, mint, lemon, thyme

Romano Levi is an old man born in 1928.

An average of 15-20 barrels of 600-700L are distilled per year.

The Levi Distillery was founded in 1925 by Romano's father, Serafino Levi.
However, just a few years after opening a distillation facility, which had been a long-cherished desire, Serafino passed away prematurely.
After losing his beloved mother in a bombing in 1945, he began distilling himself.

A pre-war open-fire distillation machine inherited from his father (modern distillers are not open-fired,
There is a section of water between the heat source and the raw material, and the steam heats the raw material.
Using a hot water bath-like system, he stubbornly sticks to the old-fashioned manufacturing method.

The fuel is vinaccia (grape pomace produced when wine is made) after distillation.
Remove the water using a torchio (a wooden grape pressing machine),
The ash is dried outside for 2-3 years and the ashes are scattered over the vineyard.
The vinaccia used is from makers such as Gaya,
I mainly use Nebbiolo Vinaccia.
Levi dug two huge holes in his garden and buried the pomace grape skins in them.
The grapes are dug up little by little until April or May of the following year and used for distillation.

Sand is poured over the storage holes to remove air and prevent spoilage.
In this region, where the weather cools down rapidly after harvest, the pomace remains in a naturally refrigerated state until spring.
Distilled grappa is poured directly into barrels,
It is left to age in aging warehouses for 1 to 10 years (some for over 20 years...).

Depending on the type of wood used in the barrel, the age of aging and the age of the barrel,
The color of the finished grappa varies.