Spirit of Life

81 Pages·2016·2.15 MB·English

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Spirit of Life
Grappa, its story and its place in world cuisine
S Sandro Bottega & Peter Dowling
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Spirit of Life
Spirit of Life
Grappa, its story and its place in world cuisine
Sandro Bottega Peter Dowling
&
With contributions by
Luigi Odello, Fausto Sartori and Alessandra Zecchini
Preface by F. Paul Pacult
I dedicate this book to my father Aldo and my
mother Rosina, who taught me how to love
the earth and her fruits — a cyclic path, whose
rhythm is signalled by the succession of seasons,
and each year manifests itself in the eau de vie,
the precious spirit of life, consolidating with
time the ties between generations.
Published Oratia Media, Auckland 0604, New Zealand
(www.oratia.co.nz) in association with Bottega S.p.A., 31010
Bibano di Godega S.U. (TV).
Sandro Bottega
All rights reserved. Except for the purposes of fair reviewing,
no part of this book may be reproduced or broadcast in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
publisher. Infringers of copyright render themselves liable
to prosecution.
© 2016 Sandro Bottega and Peter Dowling
Th e authors assert their moral rights in the work.
First published 2016
Publishing services: Oratia Media
Design: IslandBridge
Editing: Giovanni Savio
Styling: Alessandra Zecchini, Monica Lisetto
Photography: Sean Shadbolt, Istock, Francesco Galifi ,
Giambattista Benedet
with special thanks to Verdegaio Restaurant
Contents
Preface 8
The civilisation of the grape: wine and grappa
Fausto Sartori 11
Grappa: above all a matter of style
Luigi Odello 29
Italian recipes 47
World recipes 69
Cocktail recipes 141
Glossary 153
Index 155
Preface
Over the last 20 years of earning my living as a spirits critic, I’ve come But Sandro Bottega and Peter Dowling have the good sense to paint
to admire the skill, dedication and art of distillers around the world. grappa in colourful strokes that appeal to contemporary consumers,
Distillers are a peculiar breed of humankind, though, often given to late which is why their inclusion of food recipes and cocktail recipes hits such
nights and early mornings talking to their percolating stills, or perhaps a high note. So, yes by all means, while I relish knowing about the guild of
listening to their bubbling stills speak to them. Th ey are typically pensive, the Scola (School) of the Art of Aqua di Vita that, in 1618 in Venice, was
private people, except whenever anyone casually says something akin founded by 86 distillers, I prefer to do so while sipping a delicious Alexia
to, “Lovely copper, uh, kettle. What does it make?” Th en all bets for the cocktail (with grappa as an ingredient) or while savouring chanterelle
next two to three hours are off as the distiller, with gusto and animation, soup (with grappa as an ingredient) or while eating the zesty Jerusalem
guides the lucky commenter on a private tour of their daily world. artichoke risotto (with grappa as an ingredient) that’s so ably described
Th e ancient ‘spirit of life’, the shimmering aqua vitae of Italy, in in the food recipes.
particular, holds a special place in my pantheon of the planet’s great Ancient clerics called distillates, like grappa, the ‘spirit of life’ because
spirits. Th at is because few distillates refl ect their makers or their times they believed that those liquids awoke and rejuvenated the innermost
more than grappa. It started out about one thousand years ago as a core of humans, the soul. I can attest to that due to the fact that I restore
popular tipple of the agrarian villages that, for millennia, have dotted my soul most mornings in my offi ce when I sample fi ne spirits like
Italy’s hillsides, coastlines, and hinterlands. Th e boiled and vaporised grappa for review. Th e message of Spirit of Life is simultaneously simple
juice from discarded crushed wine grapes, grappa served its makers well, and profound, like grappa: Enjoy today with the bounty of the Earth,
alleviating some of the day’s worries and salving over the scrapes and food and drink, with friends and family, and you’ll maintain a sense of
aches of farming. Grappa was the elixir of the locale. Yet, as old as grappa balance.
is, it is not obsolete. Few spirits are as modern and sleek. 
Th e magical alchemy of man (distiller), local resource (grapes), and May the spirit of life enrich your soul.
machine (still) is beautifully captured by Sandro Bottega and Peter
Dowling in Spirit of Life. Grappa, like all the world’s illustrious libations, is F. Paul Pacult
a multifaceted indulgence for fortunate consumers. Genuine enjoyment, Editor, F. Paul Pacult’s Spirit Journal
however, includes a dose of historical perspective, a dash of food pairing, Wallkill, New York, USA
and a pinch of tasting prowess. All of these aspects plus many more are
amply yet concisely explored with wit, keen articulation and insight by
the authors.
8 9
The civilisation
of the grape: wine and grappa
Fausto Sartori
Spirit of Life The civilisation
of the grape
It was not until the seventeenth century, in not follow it from the beginning of its history
Aqua vitae, Alchemy and properties
Venice and north-eastern Italy, thousands of and stayed instead hidden and limited in obscure
a supernatural drink of aqua vitae
years after its discovery, that aqua vitae entered laboratories. Th e response to such a query was
into the realm of daily necessities – becoming a given in the fourteenth century by a Franciscan
beverage highly sought after by men and women, friar, the alchemist Rupescissa, according to
From the marc – that is, from the skins, seeds rich and poor, nobles and peasants, merchants As we have seen, the origin of the fi rst distil- whom the ‘water of life’ had been voluntarily
and stalks left over from the squeezing and and clerics. In the 1600s, Venice, a magnifi cent lates is ancient, dating back to the workshops kept hidden by philosophers because in this
pressing of the grape – comes to life the drink European capital that was an audacious of the Arabs and the Egyptians, who learned the spirit were contained the secrets that could
that the ancients held to be perhaps the most setter of new trends in fashion and customs, art and science of distillation from the peoples arrest the degenerative course of time and aging.
perfect and pure of all, the fl uid of absolute welcomed into society and the most powerful of East Asia and India. If wine was born from It promised, in other words, to be the elixir of
purity. Th is is aqua vitae, a member of the patrician households the fragrant drink that was the fatigue of agricultural work as a simple yet eternal life.
brandy family, from the Medieval Latin mean- produced in the nearby countryside of Treviso. noble drink, the fi rst distillates were instead Such a panacea, jealously hidden in the
ing ‘water of life’. Th e close kinship between It would remain enjoyed for centuries to come. the produce of scientifi c experimentation, from workshops of the alchemists, was considered not
wine and acquavite di vinacce (the characteristic Th e emancipated and refi ned Venetian women empirical research into the secrets of the material to belong to any of the four natural elements, but
grappa for which Italy is famous) begins in the of the period caught on to this ‘nectar’ that and of nature. Th ese secrets led directly to God was the ultimate synthesis – no less than the fi fth
raw material used, bunches of grapes. Grappa was drunk in small sips, and began to frequent and to the ultimate principles of life. element, the quintessence or the divine essence,
is the only distillate in the world that is tied the elegant locales dedicated exclusively to the Even if by diff erent means, both drinks the purest substance that had been attained in
to wine by history and origin: no other liquor consumption of aqua vitae that started to spring were still destined to make contact with the the search for natural and spiritual perfection.
can claim to be obtained from the grapes of a up throughout the city, helping them to achieve divine. Th anks to wine, God descended spont- Th is was the true (even if liquid) philosopher’s
single varietal. success. And it was probably also the infl uence of aneously, fl ooding the body and the spirit with stone that would throw open to the researcher
Notwithstanding their common origin, wine the women that led to the great social success of new and extraordinary faculties. With aqua and mystic the secret of life.
and aqua vitae have had diff erent uses and the aqua vitae houses. In Venice the triumph of vitae, on the other hand, God revealed himself At play was the transformation of matter, the
destinies since the time 5000 years ago in grappa was such that before long, in all of Italy, to man, dissolving and reappearing before the power to heal all ills, and the possibility of gain-
Mesopotamia and Egypt when farmers began to from the seaside to the mountains, this became eyes as if in a repeat of a laboratory experiment. ing access to the territory of the supernatural,
cultivate grapes and to produce the fi rst wines the most pop ular drink, together with wine. Th e process of distillation resulted in a where not only God and his truths would be
and distillates. But whereas wine from that product at once physical and philosophical, revealed, but where it would be possible to touch
time immediately achieved wide distribution a substance that contained the universal and repeat every secret and mechanism of life
and fortune, aqua vitae remained for a long alchemical formula. It refl ected an asceticism hidden in God’s mind. Only much later, with
time confi ned, indeed almost concealed, in the devoted to God and to his power, and produced the Renaissance, did aqua vitae slowly lose its
workshops of wizards and priests, tying its a liquid that united all the four natural elements magical connotations, while still conserving its
destiny to scientifi c research and alchemy, to on which life on Earth is founded (air, water, powerful character of performing miracles, with
philosophical and mystical speculation, to the earth and fi re). uses in medicine for curing many illnesses, such
desire to reach and discover the secrets of God It may be wondered, therefore, how aqua as purifying an area infected by the plague or, to
in nature. Kitchen of a Venetian inn vitae, although so closely paired with wine, did take another example, overcoming stutters.
12 13
Spirit of Life The civilisation
of the grape
Over time the precious drink, profi ting from preordained as protector – San Giovanni Battista Th e distillate, like coff ee today, was drunk at
popular credulity, started to become one of the (Saint John the Baptist). Th e aqua vitae masters any time of the day, even in the early morning.
strongest instruments in the hands of many of met periodically to discuss the issues of the So began a type of duel between coff ee and
the common witches who crowded European day, or the election of diff erent offi cers, be they aqua vitae – who preferred one, who the other,
cities, together with mendicant astrologers and clerks or treasurers on up to the appointment of depending on the fashions and the social milieu.
alchemists, soothsayers, practitioners of the Gastaldo, the highest offi ce of the congregation. Regardless, throughout the 1700s in Venice,
cabbala and traffi ckers in elixirs of long life. Th e Scola had as its objectives the protection grappa was associated with and sold alongside
But the reputation of aqua vitae and grappa, of the exclusive rights of manufacture and sale coff ee, its valiant rival. Aqua vitae was served
notwithstanding the unprincipled use made of aqua vitae, mutual support of members in special ‘aqua vitae and coff ee’ shops, places
of them by these poor imitators of the great in case of sickness or old age and, fi nally, the where it was indeed possible to enjoy only these
Paracelsus, would emerge intact through the development and quality of the product itself. two beverages. But the relative strength of these
course of the centuries. “It rejuvenates, prolongs Within the guild, as in an academy, knowledge outlets was in their off er of a good, genuine
life and renews it internally, and makes man was handed down to encourage the regulated grappa and in their spicing of the product with
respectable and marvellous in the eyes of others,” and continuously improved production of the bergamot, lemon balm, almond, aniseed (mistrà),
wrote a noted Venetian writer at the start of the distillate, to the benefi t of taste and also public cinnamon and fennel. Th ey off ered “aqua vitae of
eighteenth century. health. From the beginning it was in fact clear a thousand kinds to awaken the lasciviousness
that aqua vitae obtained without adequate that was sleeping”, as the erudite adventurer
technical expertise could gravely damage the Tomaso Garzoni wrote in 1585, alluding to the
Th e ‘School’ of Venetian health of the consumer. sinful invitations to which almost all Venetian
Th e large number of members in the new locals, elegant or otherwise, could so easily
aqua vitae makers
guild of Venetian aqua vitae makers gives an idea The pleasures of the table fall victim – after all, this was a city famous in
of the economic dimension of the commerce Europe for the licentiousness of its customs.
that aqua vitae was generating in the lagoon city, Tax levied on consumption of aqua vitae and
In 1618 in Venice, then one of the most popu- thanks above all to the numerous distilleries later also on manufacture – the latter instituted in
lous cities in Europe and the most worldly, 86 established on ‘Terra Firma’ and particularly in 1662 to fi nance the war against the Turks and the Grappa and the
aqua vitae manufacturers came together in the the territory of Treviso, home to a concentration reconquest of the island of Candia – guaranteed
peasant world
refectory of the convent of San Giovanni and of brusi (burners) and fondaci (warehouses). signifi cant revenues to la Serenissima. In the
San Paolo to found the Scola (School) of the In the Treviso area until a few decades ago, course of several decades in Venice there was an
Art of Aqua di Vita, the craftsmen’s guild for direct descendants of this ancient tradition of explosion in the number of new establishments
producers and vendors of aqua vitae. Th us was production were still present in no less than 125 that, together with aqua vitae, off ered another Above all in northern Italy, in both the cities and
born not simply a professional association, but distilleries, testimony to a heritage that makes exotic new drink called coff ee. Th e credit for this the country, on the plains and in the mountains,
a great fraternity motivated by diff erent aims (as grappa synonymous with Veneto, although it is success goes overwhelmingly to grappa, while consumption of grappa took hold, thanks in
much charitable and devotional as commercial), distributed and appreciated in all the regions of coff ee remained a distant second to aqua vitae in part to the eff orts (especially in Piedmont and
with their seat in a city church and a saint Italy. the preferences of Venetian citizens. Val d’Aosta) of travelling aqua vitae makers,
14 15
Spirit of Life The civilisation
of the grape
genuine producers who used to tour the that off ers a new way of consuming, allowing sense of smell, grappa possesses the virtue of
countryside with little mobile distilleries. Using the perfuming of not only coff ee but also oysters smoothing and mitigating the sourness of foods
an apparatus known as an alembic, they could and lobster, desserts and chocolates, cocktails that are too strong or, vice versa, livening up
distil a farmer’s own grapes at his door, and and cigars. bland-tasting dishes.
they became traditional fi gures like the cobbler If in the past the consumption of wine and
or knife-grinder, who travelled between villages aqua vitae belonged to diff erent social settings
and countryside always in search of new work. (the craft of the tavern owner or barman had Wine:
In Venice itself, itinerant selling of aqua vitae nothing in common with the refi ned art of the
origins and myth
gained a foothold. Almost always unlawful (to aqua vitae distiller), in our times aqua vitae,
avoid payment of taxes), this particular form of in keeping with its own character, shares the
selling was known in dialect as ‘col gotesin’, after same social orbit as wine. At the origin of this
the small glasses that together with a couple of communion there is more than the raw material In the dawn of history, when little by little man
bottles were hidden beneath the cloak of the used, the grape; there is the convergence of social discovered and invented fi re, the wheel and
peddler. uses and old cultural traditions that, together, writing, came an invention that was diff erent
To discover one of the most profound values make of grappa a special liquor, diffi cult to from the others, but one that was destined to
rep resented by grappa, however, we must leave compare and diff erent from any other highly make no less a mark on the development of
the city and set out for the most isolated areas alcoholic drink. civilisation and consciousness. Th at discovery
of the countryside and the steepest mountains. To realise how deeply rooted in daily habit was wine, and it delivered multiple virtues:
It is here, in fact, that grappa took on entirely Venetian distillers at work, sixteenth century grappa is today, it is suffi cient to enter one of reconciling with reality, favouring sociability,
its image of a traditional drink – beloved of the typical bàcari, the most characteristic of the reinforcing friendship, giving pleasure, removing
country folk, providing a precious reserve of wholly into high society. For all, rich and poor Venetian establishments. Located throughout inhibitions and fears.
heat in the frozen winters. Still today the word alike, the drop of grappa encouraged the sense of the city, the bàcari are the preferred places for But there was something else, beyond the
grappa evokes in Italy the world of the peasant, belonging to a community; in private, it helped Venetians to meet, chat and drink a good glass liveliness of the spirit, that this dense and
his one-time poverty but also his most simple the most profound and agreeable meditations. of their favourite drop. Here grappa and wine, perfumed liquid held – a new, unimaginable
and hidden pleasures. In front of the hearth, From the world of the countryman, again, accompanied by small servings of meat, fi sh and power, that would end by profoundly infl uenc-
pipe smoke and the smell of tobacco mingled came a range of typical ways for consuming vegetables (called cicheti in the Veneto dialect), ing the existential and cultural progress of
with the aroma of aqua vitae fl avoured with grappa. Today it is commonly used to lace are certainly the preferred drinks. In the local humanity. In the period that preceded Greek
gentian root or other herbs. Grappa, considered espresso coff ee. In Veneto and Friuli there cuisine, moreover, the noble distillate can also be civilisation, in Egypt and Mesopotamia, beer
essential to combat the most intense cold, was endures even in the best salons the popular employed directly as a culinary ingredient, in the made from grain remained for a long time the
also used as a medication to massage the body tradition of the resentin, that much-loved habit composition of various typical Veneto dishes, or most common alcoholic drink, consumed above
and ease muscular pain. of adding a few drops of grappa to the bottom of to garnish or fl avour sweets and desserts. With all among the poorest classes. Although like
Th e fi ne qualities of grappa also won over the the cup after fi nishing a coff ee. And recently, in its delicate, multi-faceted aroma, aqua vitae can wine it originated from the discovery of a simple
aristocrats and landed gentry, who judged this a story from the modern era, grappa spray has substitute for spices that are too fi ery or hard biochemical principle, namely fermentation, the
highly perfumed beverage worthy of entering been born – by means of a special spray bottle to digest. As well as seducing and satisfying the fermented grape juice would be reserved for an
16 17