Spirit ofLifeSpirit
Spirit of Life Grappa, its story and its place in world cuisine
Sandro Bottega &PeterSandro Bottega Dowling Sandro Bottega & Peter Dowling 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, Venice and north-eastern Italy, thousands of Alchemy and properties and stayed instead hidden and limited in obscure a supernatural drink years after its discovery, that aqua vitae entered of aqua vitae 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 health of the consumer. sinful invitations to which almost all Venetian Th e ‘School’ of 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 aqua vitae manufacturers came together in the the territory of Treviso, home to a concentration reconquest of the island of Candia – guaranteed Grappa and the refectory of the convent of San Giovanni and of brusi (burners) and fondaci (warehouses). signifi cant revenues to la Serenissima. In the peasant world 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 In Venice itself, itinerant selling of aqua vitae nothing in common with the refi ned art of the Wine: gained a foothold. Almost always unlawful (to aqua vitae distiller), in our times aqua vitae, origins and myth 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 Spirit of Life The civilisation of the grape
exclusive use. Formerly the preserve of nobles, Th e Age of Wine, which no historical text has new man was born, who was thus able to be in that wine ceased to be just another beverage and it entered into agrarian fertility rites and, in actually circumscribed, began more than 5000 harmony with himself. became an instrument of consciousness; an light of its similarity to blood, was presented in years ago in the place where – biblical legend Wine clarifi ed interpersonal relations, instil- object of rite, symbol and metaphor; something off erings to the gods, thereby obviating the need and archaeology agree – the ark came to rest, on led hope and happiness, eased pain and removed other than what had been there until that time; a for bloody human sacrifi ces. Th is novel drink Mount Ararat. Here Noah, in the fi rst act of his the memory of the hostile outside world, but sacred and allegorical drink that demanded in its would create new customs and pleasures, new new existence on Earth, planted a vine and got with the same ease it could drag a person to a hell consumption an architecture of ritual, gestures mythologies, new symbolic visions, new arts drunk (he had fair reason after months of sailing without exit, in a subhuman world from which and words. and crafts, and even new gods. and the Great Flood). Here, in the western escape could be very hard. Wine, as a powerful Along with wine emerged new myths and Th is new ‘instrument’, wine, did not have Caucasus, in Egypt, and in the Fertile Crescent drug, required moderation. Only then, as in new gods. It created an alphabet of symbols practical applications, didn’t serve any particular between the Tigris and the Euphrates, the tribes the judgement of Hippocrates, founding father and a forest of meanings and stories that would end, and didn’t make life more simple or who were still nomadic and lived by hunting and of medicine, could wine become “marvellously form an integral part of the sacred and the com fortable. On the contrary, if anything it tending herds were driven to put down roots suitable for man, whether healthy or sick, when profane, of poetry and philosophy. Rules, words complicated life, giving it unknown depth, and dedicate themselves to agriculture and the consumed in the right measure and according to and precise gestures grew up around wine, opening new and not always sure pathways cultivation of that very plant, the vine, with an individual’s constitution.” whether as a way of drinking, or as an object in the mind. “Wine is half for peeping inside its demand for assiduous and meticulous care. If bread was the food of the body, wine would and focus of ancestral rites. Ceremonies that man,” said the ancient Greek Alcaeus, but Unlike beer, the drink of the masses, wine was soon become the food of the spirit and the had wine as the protagonist, be they religious, the spectacle revealed by that glimpse was destined for the privileged elite such as kings, pleasure of the senses. No one could resist it. agrarian or convivial, were conducted following not always agree able. Th is strange fermented princes and priests, by reason of its high cost Even the wisest and strongest of individuals fell established conventions and a severe and austere juice, which touched and could confuse the and the delicate skilled involved in its creation. irresistibly under its power; even the grimmest discipline. intellectual faculties, signalled the surmounting Wine quickly became a lot more than a simple, of philosophers was obliged to dance, sing and Th e mythology and ritual born around wine of psychological barriers to elevate the mind innocuous drink: it was a fount that off ered utter, in spite of himself, “words that would hid and still protects today the desire not to into layers of consciousness that had hitherto transports beyond the limits of the human, and be better not said” (Homer). From the day of become a slave to the drink, but to maintain been unexplored, in territories of the mind contact with a new spring of awareness. For the its discovery, wine quickly lost its apparently the distance necessary for consumption that where man seemed to confuse himself with the ancients the state of inebriation was a form of central function of a drink to quench the thirst is benefi cial and enriching. To sip wine with divine. possession that rendered man similar to the and nourish the body, and instead took on an wisdom requires correct behaviour, conscious Th e discovery of what were considered the gods – or the devil. “Wine is of God, drunkenness inordinate value, transcending daily reality and gestures, a sense of proportion – in other words, supernatural virtues of wine did not take long of the Devil,” admonished the fi rst Christians. earthly life. exactly that ritual environment of practices and to have major consequences in all the fi elds of If the encounter with Hell could upset mental Th e power contained in that coloured liquid, circumstances that protects one from falling endeavour of those ancients who had not long balance, the entry into the divine sphere put as well as the alteration it produced in the prey to immoderate use. Th e ancients were well previously begun to cast metal and to write using the individual at peace with the world, and mind and the body, distinguished it clearly aware of this: wine demands that, for starters, cuneiform characters – advancing the discovery reality became friendly. Wine brought a change from all other food and drink, conferring on it one has respect for wine. It is a sacred substance of self and the world, elaborating mythology and in the comprehension of the divine and the supernatural attributes, not easily governable, and it requires particular conditions and usage: religious cults, and setting up a civil and social metaphysical, in the relationship with the gods able to make man free of his own limits, but also for example, never to drink alone but always in order. and the transcendental nature of existence. A to enslave him to his basest instincts. It was thus company.
18 19 Spirit of Life The civilisation of the grape
substance that decontaminates. Again in Th e Odyssey, after the cremation of Achilles his bones are washed in wine and ointment. In ancient Greece, wine and the vine became charged with meanings that are valid for all people of all eras. It was then that were born the gods and demigods of wine, the vine and inebriation: principal among them was Dionysus, who became Bacchus among the ancient Romans. In iconography and in literary tradition he is depicted as a beardless boy, smiling, generous and yet merciless with those who refuse him or fi ght him. Among his gifts to man is also theatre, tragedy and comedy, which are, like wine, other means to attain profound truths. Th e contact one has with the theatre, and with the states of mind that approach the authentic dimensions of the inner life, are as soothing to the consciousness From the vineyard (above left),to the pressing (above right), as a drug. to the winemaker’s art (facing page) Poetry and art have eff ects that are not too diff erent from those of wine: they help us to see On the basis of this last precept was founded in the fourth century B.C.: “Praise be the man motto that derives from long-held philosophical the world in a diff erent way, bring relief, inspire in Greece one of the loftiest of all institutions: who in drinking awakens noble thoughts.” convictions, witnessed already in the classical warmth and give hope. While they may generate the symposium. Th is was a friendly get-together, Th e symposium was undertaken in a sacred era among the Greeks. Such is the power of wine feelings of melancholy, they bring one closer an after-dinner gathering dedicated exclusively atmosphere, with fl owers, incense and an altar that in the Platonic dialogues it even manages to the world and life, loosen our defences, and to wine, gladdened by the presence of beautiful where prayers were addressed to the gods. to render the demon better and wiser. Although predispose us towards a healthy abandonment girls and boys, with songs, dances, society Wine, “mirror of the soul,” wrote the great a good devil had never been conceptualised, the in relation to a reality that often appears games and discourse on philosophy and politics. ancient poet, Alcaeus. Unmasking men from power of wine was able to create one. hostile. To drink wine signifi es drawing from Drunkenness was banned, but so also was every deceitful disguise, the wine drunk during But wine is also a weapon, and it strikes hard the fountain that springs forth from Dionysus, excessive moderation in drinking. Admitted was the symposium put to the test the sincerity of at the enemy, removing strength, lucidity and because wine is Dionysus himself. In drinking it only the pleasant tipsiness that brings people the political ally and the friend, revealing one’s will: in Th e Odyssey, Ulysses blinds the Cyclops, the god inhabits us, enters into us, possesses us together and loosens the tongue, making them intimate and most deeply held intentions – Polyphemus, after off ering him very pure liquor and transforms us. feel at one with the world without clouding to put it simply, showing man as he is. In vino that sends him into a profound and defenceless Wine has a place of honour in sacred writings, the consciousness. Wrote the Greek Xenophon veritas is not only a common saying but is also a sleep. Wine is also a purifying agent, a sacred in a manner that would be hard to imagine for
20 21 Spirit of Life The civilisation of the grape
beer unless it were with a comic or parodic of hills. Th e vineyards take a comb to the land’s and sizes that had suffi ciently wide openings sequel. Noah, who got drunk on beer after Th e vineyard and the relief, creating the eff ects of a plant geometry and that already contained water for diluting having planted the fi rst vine on Earth, just after that models a style of cultivation whose origins the alcoholic drink. Finally, with special ladles, embarking from the ark, would certainly not ritual of wine in the hark back before the ancient Romans to the carafes or other containers endowed with a have presented a pretty spectacle. Ancient Roman world times of Greek and Etruscan colonisation. So it handle, the wine was drawn from the bowls and As has already been noted the biblical legend is that irregular and closed terracing to protect poured into large cups. Th e quantity of water of wine’s discovery coincides with the historical vines grown on stakes shows the Greek infl uence, to be mixed with the wine was decided by the data that indicate the southern Caucasus (be- Around the fi fteenth century B.C. the cultivation while on the Padana Plains the Etruscans used arbiter (referee), chosen from among the guests. ginning from Mount Ararat where Noah’s ark of vines was introduced from Greece to Sicily to grow vines suspended between trees to form But not everyone approved of this dilution, ran aground) as the place of origin of viticulture, and southern Italy. Th e wine drunk in this long festoons, following a method that was still certainly not the Latin poet Catullus: “And the from whence it spread out into Mesopotamia, period was very strong, sugary and dense, and widely used in northern Italy and particularly water should go away wherever it likes / Far away the Middle East and the Mediterranean. In the needed to be diluted with water. Soon, due to in Veneto until the 1800s, although it has been from ruining the wine / Among the abstemious: Hebrew Bible the term yayin, which signifi es the spread of the vine and the importance that completely abandoned today (it survives only in this is pure wine.” wine, appears 141 times, while there are also its cultivation assumed, Italy came to be known Campania, in southern Italy). Jesus, at the wedding in Cana in Galilee, innumerable references to vine, vineyard, grape as ‘Enotria’ (Land of Wine), and itself became a Th e outstanding Italian wines originated in transformed water into wine, even if the contrary, and viticulturist in both the Old and New new distribution centre for the by-now popular ancient Rome, at the time when the notorious changing wine into water, would perhaps have Testaments. drink towards the north and Gaul. Th e Etruscans, Bacchanals were held in celebration of the cult been a more edifying miracle. Th e Gospel of In Ecclesiastes the exhortation to live with who grew grapes by training them up trees, had of Bacchus. At a certain point an unsuccessful Matthew is explicit on this point: “Th e son of courage and to enjoy life is peremptory: “Go, eat already selected some famous and typical grape attempt was made to suppress these festivities man came eating and drinking, and they said: your bread with enjoyment, and drink your wine varietals, among them Lambrusco in northern because of their orgiastic character, which gave here is an eater and a wine-drinker ...” Ancient with a merry heart, for God has already approved Italy. In the Roman era, the quantity of wine rise to social disorder. Th e wine then was bitter symbolic and allegorical relationships point to what you do.” produced in the peninsula was so great that it in taste, very dense and strong, almost always the cross as the support post for the growth of Amid the forest of symbols, allegories and led several Latin writers to say that already wine drunk diluted with cold or warm water, and the vine, whose fruit, that is Christ, is ‘pressed’ meanings that wine assumes, it should not be was more common than water, because there fi ltered through cane baskets soaked in aromatic to extract and squeeze out the juice (his blood). forgotten that it remained basic and inalienable were not enough casks to contain all the fruits oils. “Bibe, vivas multis annis” (Drink, you will live In the Gospel, the universe is the vineyard of the to the diet of the ancients, a nourishment that of the grape harvest. for many years) is written in blue blown-glass Lord: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the was able to give energy and vigour. Th e vine, in the time of the Romans, had letters on the surface of a stunning Roman wine husbandman.” Wine was also used as a payment, salary, already become the leading Italian crop, glass. Th roughout ancient literature, as in later tribute or gift, but while money or gold could descending from the hills and taking over In the convivium (literally ‘living together’), it writing, wine is generally considered an ally circulate only among men, and it would certainly land previously used for growing cereals. Th e was wine and not the philosophising of the Greek of man and not an enemy to be fought. It is a be disrespectful to off er money to the gods, wine traditional agricultural landscape of Italy, as symposium that was the unifying element, the gift from Dionysus to men in order that they was off ered as a universal value, on Earth as in much today as in the past, is strongly identifi ed real centre of interest for a friendly gathering. can forget their ills and live with more courage. Heaven, appreciated as a currency among the with the vine plantations that, with their regular Th e wine was served by slaves, who poured it It is neither a drug nor a sedative, therefore, gods themselves. rows set at varying angles, redesign the surface from amphorae into bowls of various shapes and it neither provokes a true clouding of the
22 23 Spirit of Life The civilisation of the grape
mind nor leads to a fl ight from reality. Not an wine has entered even as the main protagonist hills of Treviso, built numerous abbeys nearby in Italy. irresistible poison, then, but a medicine, one into not only arts and letters but also science, places that today are dedicated to Prosecco. Wine With this introduction of new drinks, an that strengthens man in his desire to be himself medicine and philosophy, not to mention, of was indispensable for the celebration of mass, endless number of varied and specialised estab- above all else: wine gives hope in this valley of course, everyday life. and it obviously needed to be of top quality as lishments sprang up in Venice, targeting a tears and horrors that is life on Earth. As with set down in canon law: ‘naturale de genimine vitis clientele of more or less refi ned regulars. In the all medicines it is just a question of the right dose, et non corruptum’ (natural, from the fruit of the osterie (inns) could be found wine, good food and in the right quantity and taken in the correct vine, and not corrupted). As the priest at the lodgings; in the taverne (taverns) wine, and only way. In case the dose was exceeded, the ancients From wine to altar raises the chalice towards the cross, rather wine, was willingly served, while the serving had as an antidote for drunkenness the cabbage, aqua vitae more prosaically today we raise our glasses in a of meals remained prohibited; in the malvasie, which incidentally was never to be grown near to toast as a sign of mutual good wishes. With this rather more elegant places, although frequented a vineyard for fear of creating a poor wine. Other simple movement, so habitual that it is almost by all social classes, the fare consisted of liquors ways to avoid getting drunk were to eat a lot With the fall of the Roman Empire and the instinctive, we are merely repeating an age-old and malmsey of various kinds, as well as wine of focaccia, drink a lot of vinegar, eat a roasted barbarian invasions, the civilisation of wine act, dating back to Christian and pre-Christian produced on the Greek islands. From the sum of goat’s lung, or to adorn one’s head with garlands came to an abrupt halt. Th e vineyards were rites. all these diff erent types of outlet, and taking on of fl owers or ivy. abandoned and reverted to pasture. Th ere was During the Renaissance ‘the grape’ recovered their own individual characteristics, emerged the To observe the rituals that have surrounded resistance only inside and around monastery its place on the tables of both commoners and modern and previously mentioned bàcari, almost the consumption of wine over the millennia is walls, where vines continued to be cultivated for nobles, the latter graced by the presence of a second, much-loved home for Venetians. to understand that a glass of wine can best be the needs of worship and the liturgy. And it was ceremonial courtiers specifi cally assigned to the Wine is not afraid of competition. People enjoyed with an awareness of its role in history, here that wine and aqua vitae started to renew serving of wine. Th e great coppiere (cupbearer), continue to drink it at any time of the day, for in beliefs, in uses and in customs that have their their acquaintance – the former as a sacred who was in charge of the royal wine, would nutrition, for pleasure or to quench the thirst. roots in the heart of ancient civilisation. drink, the latter, as we have already seen, as a choose the wines to off er during banquets, Water, which especially in the city is not always Even today, to come near to wine implies mystical elixir of long life, a substance in itself supervise their conservation and temperature, safe from a hygienic standpoint, was little drunk savouring something of the ancient beliefs, incorruptible and eternal. and keep unauthorised people away from the in former times, and it was considered much repeating gestures and words that recall a Th e monasteries cultivated the vines and table crowded with glasses, cups, and carafes of better for the health to drink either white or red world in which wine assumed meanings that undertook studies of the prodigious virtues of gold and silver. He would personally try the wine wine. Unlike Greek and Roman times when wine transcend a simple physiological pleasure. aqua vitae and grappa. Saint Benedict allowed before it was drunk by his master, not least to was drunk diluted, it was now viewed in contrast From wine humanity expected all that could everyone within his order a quarter of a litre of ensure that it had not been poisoned. to water, which in general was thought to shorten be obtained only with diffi culty from reality, or wine because “It’s better to take a little wine out New drinks appeared in Europe during the life. Certainly the water of the city was a means not at all: truth, peace, friendship, communion of need than a lot of water out of greed.” Th e 1700s, among them coff ee, chocolate, cognac, of spreading stomach infections, as it continues with the gods, love, happiness, and liberation Benedictine monks, with their work of copying rum, whisky, and many kinds of distillate. Aqua to be today in developing countries. Th e most from the dictatorship of the super-ego. So it is scriptures and hoeing the gardens, saved and vitae made from the marc became established in popular wines in general were syrupy and sweet; not diffi cult to understand how ceremonies of handed down to us the classic Latin and Greek diff erent parts of the Old Continent, taking the running counter to this trend was only Venice, every kind – religious, propitiatory, convivial, texts, as well as the best wines and vineyards. Th e name orujo in Spain, bagaçeira in Portugal, marc where bitter wines were preferred. civil – have developed around wine, and how Camaldolesi monks, from their hermitage on the in France, rakia in Eastern Europe, and grappa in Th en, on the eastern slopes of Friuli, a
24 25 Spirit of Life The civilisation of the grape
renowned wine began to be produced. Th is was (Pay Your Debts). not be confused with the ‘fumes’ of alcohol. prolonging life and being good for health. Wine Picolit, ancient and rare, highly concentrated Wine, as we have seen, is many things in Wine is a gift of nature or of the gods, but also a opens up moments of pleasure and peace that because it was extracted from one varietal which one: food, drink, communion with the gods, gift that people make to themselves as a reward give us pause from our anxiety about the rapid has very small grapes and yields a substance drug, medicine, merchandise and currency, a for completing their work and daily chores. passing of time. Th e use that men have made of of the fi nest quality. It was destined to produce sacred object and substance. It is a weapon for Moreover, for this reason, in each bottle there wine has certainly not always been exemplary, in tiny quantities a very expensive wine, with weakening the adversary yet also a weapon to is something sacred that should not be wasted letting themselves lose their way, or using it an aroma of fl owers and honey, reserved for the instil courage and remove all the suff ering that or consumed immoderately. Wine is not in fact for motives that have betrayed its true nature, tables of Venetian doges, pontiff s or emperors. goes along with war. Modern armies have made consumed; wine is savoured and is drunk with which is, as one ancient Greek wrote, to given Vineyards were cultivated within the city of use of it as a mass drug to push soldiers into appreciation for every single sip. Together with us a little lightness, pleasure and inspiration for Venice itself, as well as in small quantities even battle with the enemy. “Wine fi lls our souls with the biblical bread, wine symbolises the sweat “rightful thoughts”. on the islands of the lagoon – to the point courage,” said Plato, albeit in another context. of the brow and the constant hard work of the Th e same good auspices apply to aqua vitae that one of these took its name, Vignole, from In war it became common practice to give farmer, who knows the earth and its cycles, its and grappa, which are neighbours to wine in the expanse of vines that characterised its soldiers drink before hand-to-hand combat. toughness but also its generosity. tradition and use, intimately interconnected by landscape. Vineyards on the shores of the island At Sebastopol, during the Russian campaign, In an age like ours, in which everything is virtue of that bunch of grapes and that vineyard of Sant’Erasmo, planted practically on the beach Napoleon’s French soldiers were all drunk during used up and destroyed instantly and excessively, where man has down the ages applied constant among artichokes and tomatoes, lend this wine the off ensives, wrote Tolstoy. Wine became a and little or nothing really pleases, wine can and attentive care. In grappa that ancient care, a salty scent that is famous among Venetians, tried and true munition, a fuel, an indispensable represent an antidote to the mania that drives that union of art, science and tradition, fi nds its who to this day fl ock to the island each year for war supply, and not only to keep up the troops’ us to consume resources. A glass of wine slows purest expression – a distillate that refl ects every the traditional festival of the must. morale. the course of time, and not only in the sense of labour and pleasure, and all true knowledge. From the hills of Treviso some 400 years In the First World War, the arrival of any Perhaps the wisest comment about wine was ago, wines of excellent quality were being large supply of alcohol (wine, grappa, cognac) at uttered not by an Italian or a Frenchman, but exported to the courts of half Europe. Th e the front implied that a bayonet charge against an American – Th omas Jeff erson, President of Germans used to send cart expeditions across the enemy trenches was imminent. Th e soldiers the United States, who declared that the best the Alps to obtain directly their supplies of the didn’t know whether to rejoice or lament when prevention against alcoholism and drunkenness wine produced in this province. But alongside they received this type of reinforcement that, was in fact wine. Th e Americans tried with pro- the excellent wines of this period others of even in the most uncomfortable conditions, hibition in the 1920s to eradicate the plague of lesser quality were produced, due to the massive was never in short supply. Th e fi eld of battle, alcoholism from society, with the result that growth in demand for the beverage and the recounted an Italian writer who was an offi cial instead there was an increase in criminality, relocation of viticulture from the monasteries in that bloody war fought in the Alps, smelt not violence and homicide. Much earlier, in a to the peasant classes. Th e vineyards favoured of gunpowder but had an all-pervasive odour of completely diff erent part of the world, an Eastern by the poorest rural classes produced large alcohol. monk condemning the arrogance and fanaticism fruit, full of water, with emblematic names like It would be ungenerous to conclude this brief that hide behind every form of dietary asceticism Empibotte (Empty Cask), Caricalasino (Load the excursion into the history of wine with this fi nal, had put the issue beautifully: “It is better to drink Donkey), Pisciachiaro (Piss Clear) and Pagadebiti sad image of war. Th e fragrance of wine should Cellar of a Venetian tavern wine with discernment than water with pride.”
26 27 Grappa Above all a matter of style
Luigi Odello Spirit of Life
Grappa is a unique and essentially Italian aqua nature, rural civilisation, the vineyard and the vitae. It is extracted from grape skins after they wine casks. And the grappa, which is so diffi cult have been separated from the must or the wine and laborious to produce, wins the battle against at the end of the fermentation period. Th is time, maintaining the aromas of a grape harvest determines in an unequivocal way the character, for decades, perhaps for centuries. technological history, and production diffi culties of grappa, and hence its high value. Let’s begin with the grapes that are maturing on the rows. Little by little as harvest time draws What there is in our glass near, the juice contained in the grapes becomes of grappa more sugary through the synthesis that takes place on the vine using solar energy together with water extracted from the land and the Many fi nd it remarkable to think that grappa is carbon dioxide present in the air. 40–60% water and that the alcohol is present But at the same time, in the grape skin only in roughly similar proportions. Others, aromatic substances concentrate; these diff er more sophisticated, are surprised that the two according to the quantity and type of vine, elements (water and pure alcohol), which make vineyard soil and climatic factors, all of which up about 99% of the prestigious aqua vitae, are contribute to the pleasing characteristics of the not overly important from an organoleptic or beverage that they are going to produce. Grappa sensory point of view. Instead, several hundred is therefore favoured by being obtained from the other substances, even when representing just most aromatic part of the grape skin, while being 1%, or even less of the total volume, are actually diffi cult to conserve and equally hard to distil. responsible for the aroma. Let’s look at them: Over hundreds of years from grape harvest to grape harvest, researchers, oenologists ․ Th e alcohols: a ternary compound made and master Italian distillers have investigated from atoms of carbon, hydrogen and and experimented to obtain an aqua vitae of oxygen. Some have a strong fragrance; all high quality without renouncing the base of contain powerful narcotics and have mood- distillation direct from the marc. Tradition must enhancing properties. Th e most important remain a top priority when making technological of those present in the grappa is pure alcohol, decisions. a specially controlled methylated alcohol. Th is is why in a small glass of grappa we fi nd an ancient art in continuous evolution, an art ․ Th e organic acids: compounds formed capable of bringing you immediately back to exclusively from carbon, oxygen and
30 Spirit of Life Grappa
hydrogen atoms combined in a special way. grappa derived from the vines of aromatic Diffi cult to detect distinctly in the grappa, fruit (such as Muscat, Müller Th urgau or these reinforce the tactile aggressiveness of Riesling). the alcohol. Th eir presence, while modest in quantity, infl uences the taste of the aqua vitae and also the aroma. Grappa according ․ Th e esters: there are many of these, to the law derived from the marriage of two rather large constituents of grappa (acids and alcohols), and they stimulate the most Italian legislation has brought clarity to the legal extraordinary olfactory sensations, be they situation and off ered new guarantees to the positive or negative. Among them ethyl consumer with the 1997 decree DPR 297CEE acetate generally predominates and, below a 1576/89. Legally, ‘grappa’ is exclusively aqua certain threshold, inhibits the perception of vitae of the marc obtained from raw materials the unsaturated aldehydes and accentuates extracted from grapes produced and made into some fruity components. wine in Italy, and distilled in plants located on national territory. ․ Th e aldehydes: these contain the same Th e lees, which are so rich in strong aromas, A copper alembic and distillers elements as the alcohols and acids but, must adhere to these parameters: 25% of weight possibly due to their unstable structure, in the raw materials, and 35% in terms of the Th e alcohol content needs to be no less than they are very evident organoleptically even alcohol level. 37.5% by volume, while the maximum added ․ Th ey are obtained from raw materials in reduced concentrations. Th e saturated Th e alcohol content extracted from the sugar is fi xed at 2% by volume. Aromatisation extracted from grapes produced and aldehydes are generally responsible for the alembic cannot be more than 86% by volume, is permitted and, in the case of grappa aged in harvested in the geographic area referred to herbal taste sensations while the unsaturated guaranteeing that the distillate maintains the wooden casks, caramel may be used to correct by the denomination; ones may be fl oral but also risk producing organoleptic characteristics of the raw material the colour. Regarding grappa aged in wooden rancid aromas. Th e one most evident in from which it has been extracted. Two other casks, the terms ‘old’ and ‘aged’ can be used ․ All of the operations, except the bottling grappa is acetaldehyde. limits are put in place: the content of volatile when the period is at least twelve months, and connected activities, take place in the substances (to be precise, those diff erent to water ‘reserve’ and ‘very old’ when it is not less than geographic area stated in the denomination; ․ Th e terpenes: bizarre combinations of and from ethylated and methylated alcohols) eighteen months. single atoms of carbon and hydrogen, these must be not less than 140 milligrams per litre Grappa from Barolo, Piedmont, Lombardy, ․ Th ey are not mixed with grappa coming from can be considered embellishments of nature, of pure alcohol, and the quantity of methylated Trentino, Alto Adige, Veneto and Friuli may be other regions. perceived in the form of a series of powerful alcohol no more than 1 gram per litre of pure given a geographical denomination when: smells. Th e terpenes are characteristic of alcohol. On the label one can also refer to the vineyard
32 33 Spirit of Life Grappa
(with a maximum of two), to a DOCG, DOC and aqua vitae in Europe: the onslaught of phylloxera the alembic. IGT wine, as well as to the type of alembic used with the massive changes it provoked in grape Only a small part of the marc produced in Direct fi re alembics in distillation. vines, and the invention of the distillation Italy is distilled for the production of grappa Th e alembics that take a direct fl ame run for four column. Th e latter, predicted by Porta in 1600 and therefore the intelligent distiller ensures to fi ve hours. Th ey have a copper boiler with a and refi ned by the Florentine Baglioni in 1813, that only the best raw materials are used in the fairly small capacity (400–500 kilograms of concentrates the alcoholic liquids in aqua vitae manufacture of the noble aqua vitae. marc), always joined to a short fl at column. Very Production technology by means of only one distillation, and allows As for the winemaking technique, there is no few alembics of this type survive. and organoleptic profi le signifi cant improvement to be made to the raw doubt that a long maceration with submerged materials from the start. But to be put into use it cap is the favourite of any serious and enthus- Bain-marie alembics needs to operate on fermenting liquids and not iastic distiller, while the marc immediately Contemporary with those that use a direct on solid substances. separated from the must is the most diffi cult fl ame, and a symbol of the ancient distillation Who invented grappa? In Italy this almost did not happen, not to manage and has the most random results. style, these are diff erentiated by having a Th e answer is a people: the Italians! Grappa, or because of any regulations but, probably, for Other important factors include the adequacy double boiler equipped with a space in which aqua vitae, was conceived amid the studies of the lack of energy sources and the enormous of the pressing, the absence of stalks, the fast the water is boiled on a wood fi re or by a gas Salernitan school that, around the year 1000, investment needed to create factories. In Italy formation of acids in the grape skins, and the fl ame, or a vapour produced by a separate codifi ed the rules of the concentration of the the procedure is to distil the skin of the grapes, systems of storage in the cellar. mechanism. Th ese provide a cloak of heat that alcohol through distillation. It also prescribed and the material separated from the must, or gently evaporates the essences in the marc. Th is grappa for the use of various ailments, from the wine at the termination of the alcoholic Distillation techniques then mingles normally in a fl at column, small guaranteeing the distiller enduring success. fermentation, thus obtaining an aqua vitae of Th e sculptor of the sensory profi le of a grappa or medium in size, becomes concentrated then Th e marc, a fairly poor raw material in terms of distinctive character. is the master distiller who – using all his liquefi es and is transformed into aqua vitae. alcohol as it contains two-thirds less than wine, experience, knowledge, sensitivity and passion – was already being subjected to consideration by Technology and typicality chooses when, how and with what instruments 1400. to transform a consignment of marc into an Until the beginning of the 1800s modes of The characteristics of the marc exciting grappa. distillation of the marc diff ered little within Th e organoleptic profi le of a young grappa Unlike most other aqua vitae, where the Europe, with practically the same rules followed and therefore its typical characteristics are characteristics of the apparatus are precisely as those put in place by the Jesuits in 1600 in directly correlated with the characteristics of designed and standardised, grappa can boast Spain by Miguel Agusti, in Germany by Atanasio the marc and the distillation. For their part, the that it is the daughter of hundreds of indivi- Kircher and in Italy by Francesco Terzi Lana. characteristics of the marc strictly derive from dually crafted alembics, and it is on this that One could then say that the era of grappa, if we the climatic factors and soil science of the area a large part of its personality depends: in Italy can call it that, has a European dimension, as in which the grapes are grown, the source vine or it is practically impossible to fi nd two of these with most other aqua vitae. vines, the technology used during pressing and distilling instruments that are the same, even if Th ere are two main factors that led to the fermentation, and the time and the method by produced by the same manufacturer. Let’s have diff erentiation and regional characterisation of which the raw materials have been prepared for a look at the diff erent types. The distillation column
34 35 Spirit of Life
Of course, we are talking about individualised fi rst the marc enters into the top of a cylinder alembics, which function for between two and through which steam is passed. In the horizontal six hours, and may include coppers that have a alembics the marc is pushed by an Archimedean capacity of more than 1200 litres. screw through a series of tubes in which the Th e grappa made in the bain-marie is vapour travels upstream. distinguished by a full aroma, balance and lack In both cases the vapours are transformed of sharpness, often with a hint of jam fl avours into liquids with a low alcoholic content, and are that can result in unusual earthy fl avours. then concentrated in fl at columns of medium to large dimension. Steam cylinder alembics Th e technology of small-copper alembics was The distillation column developed last century as a way of matching the Th is doesn’t represent a fi fth category of quality of the grappa produced by the bain-marie alembic, but is the element placed after the along with a necessary growth in productivity. copper and responsible for the concentration Th ey consist of a series of cylindrical and conical of hydroalcoholic vapours. To obtain an aqua boilers containing perforated racks on which vitae suffi ciently rich in ethyl alcohol in only between 300 and 700 kilograms of the marc one distillation, the vapours are passed into the is prepared. Vapour is passed in at the base of column – a vertical cylinder spaced out with these cylinders from a separate boiler. Th is goes plates that provoke successive liquidisation through the raw material, picking up the alcohol and evaporation from the hydroalcoholic mix and the aromas that are then concentrated in – and only those vapours that show a higher a small- to medium-sized column. Th e steam alcoholic content reach the cooler. Using the coppers represent a great tradition in the sector column requires particular attention because it and produce a grappa of distinction, rich and is diffi cult for the distiller to control and there sometimes provocative. But care must be taken is a risk of concealing the grappa’s character and not to fall into the trap of rapid and forced reducing its potential quality. distillation, which compromises quality. From the alembic to the bottle Continuous apparatus When the grappa gushes from the alembic it Th is type of alembic accounts for the majority of is a colourless, crystal liquid with an alcoholic the aqua vitae made in Italy. It produces grappas grade between 70° and 86°, and endowed with a that are refi ned and noble even if not always particularly wide sensory profi le in its variety of endowed with great personality. Th ere are two tones, although still very unrefi ned. Because of major forms, vertical and horizontal. In the this it needs an adequate rest period to recover
36 Spirit of Life Grappa
from the stress of the distillation. between 27 litres and 100,000 litres when vats is not an element strictly necessary for our Th e maturation takes as long as is needed are being produced; and the woods used vary nutrition: the ethyl alcohol it contains provides to suit the personality of the grappa. Once this from the ash tree to the juniper, from the apple a good number of calories (around 235 kcal per time has past, whether long or short, the liquid tree to the acacia, from chestnut to cherry, and 100 ml of grappa at 42° of alcohol), but these are can go for bottling or be placed for ageing or from almond to oak. Th e latter is certainly the not very useful for our bodies because they are aromatising to add character. wood most commonly used in manufacturing burned in a hurry. Th erefore grappa is a pleasure, grappa, especially oak from Slavonia. and, as with all pleasures, it is best to enjoy it Reduction of alcoholic grade without slipping into excess. Th e grappa is extracted from the alembic with an Aromatisation Drinking it, we should keep in mind that a alcohol concentration decidedly more elevated Th is is an ancient procedure, undertaken to add certain threshold should not be crossed. Conven- than those that are commercially available. Th e more character to the grappa and to increase tionally it is advised not to take more than a gram secret lies in using raw materials that don’t need its galenic properties. Rue, chamomile, sage, of alcohol for each kilogram of body weight. too much adjustment: in this way one can extract mountain pine, juniper and asperula are some of Th ere is no question that grappa has a posi- from the alembic a grappa of a minimum grade the medicinal herbs used, while among the more tive eff ect on the digestion. In fact, the alcohol in which a good selection of volatile substances typically used fruit, but certainly not the only aff ects the digestive secretions because it is present, and then reduce it by adding water. ones, are blueberries. stimulates the freeing of gastrin, a gastro- intestinal hormone. Th is is why grappa is so Refrigeration and fi ltration appreciated at the end of a meal, as in the Italian Th is process is undertaken to obtain a grappa Grappa secular tradition, or when added to espresso that is physically more stable and appealing to coff ee, another characteristic ingredient in our the senses. Th e operation consists of bringing and health culture of eating and drinking. the aqua vitae to a variable temperature between And so, within the suggested limits, grappa -10°C and -20°C for periods that can vary from a really is a pleasure that can comfortably become few minutes to ten hours. Grappa is fundamentally a pleasure, an act an everyday custom – a happy moment to spend Th e molecules that are insoluble by refriger- of hedonism dedicated to oneself and to the in company or in solitary refl ection. ation are removed through fi ltration, otherwise people with whom one has the joy of sharing the at room temperature some remain dissolved moment of consumption. One does not drink in the rustic world of the countryside and in and the rest will make the aqua vitae cloudy. grappa because it is necessary to survive; Moments of consumption and mountain villages, then spread into city drawing- rather, one drinks it to appreciate its aromatic rules of service rooms where, not without a hint of snobbery, it Ageing complexities, thereby satisfying the human The moment of consumption was consumed at the end of signifi cant social In contrast to other distillates, grappa also uses leaning towards beauty, and providing a moment Grappa, in Italy as elsewhere, is the most encounters between connoisseurs. Th e mildest very diff erent processes for maturing: the time of conviviality. Th us the act of consuming grappa ecological of distilled drinks, the one that best and most refi ned of the grappas have also won in wood can vary from 6 months to more than is an act of choice, the search for a daily pleasure, evokes the natural world with its unrestricted over female consumers. 20 years; the dimensions of the container vary not an opportunistic moment. In fact, grappa open spaces. Indeed, its consumption began Young grappa, at times simple, at times
38 39 Spirit of Life Grappa
truly aromatic, can possess a wide range of above all in the evenings or after dinner. not easy to follow such complicated rules: at allowed, with delicate incisions or small characteristics. For example a white grappa, The temperature worst if one serves the grappa chilled, the decorations applied through grinding: the body young, pure and nervy, can be appreciated Hot grappa simply isn’t pleasant. But neither is consumer could always bring it to the right of the glass is more to be prized the more it is after playing sports, especially if held at low to there a need to overchill it. Th e right point, as temperature in the palm of the hand or by simple and insubstantial. In fact, everything medium temperatures and in close contact with always, is in the middle: 8–10°C for white grappa, waiting a moment before tasting. to do with the serving of a grappa must give a nature. For its part an aged grappa, above all one 15°C for those of medium age, 18°C for spirits But if it arrives hot the reverse process sense of immateriality, since we’re talking about seasoned in precious woods for medium to long matured over a long period in wood, especially is simply impossible. In the summer and in a spirit of the marc. periods, adapts well to the time and place of its if this has infused appreciable quantities of countries with hot climates grappa is better consumption: with meditation and conversation, tannin. One could object that, in practice, it is enjoyed with ice, on the rocks or as an ingredient in a cocktail or long drink. Grappa tasting Visual judgement The glass In the sensory analysis of a beverage visual Th e ideal glass for grappa has a capacity of not examination is important, even if sometimes less than 50 ml and is fi lled almost halfway. But open to interpretation. With grappa the visual grappas of elegance give of their best served in judgement evaluates transparency, and the tone glasses up to three times that large, although and intensity of colour (absent in the younger the quantity of aqua vitae served should never grappas). exceed 25 to 50 ml. Th e form and material of the glass is of Transparency fundamental importance. With regard to the If a ray of light crosses a beverage without former, a tulip shape appears the most appro- being defl ected by minute particles and directly priate, especially if the grappa is young. And yet reaches our eyes, the liquid under examination is certain fl utes, neither too narrow nor too tall, perfectly transparent. are ideal for the appreciation of the bouquet, Grappa derives from distillation, in other especially for tasting aqua vitae with developed words from that physical operation that signifi es fragrances. purifi cation: it leaves the alembic clearer than Some well-aged grappas handle the ballon mineral water and only by human error or without diffi culty, but the concentration of negligence can this state of perfect transparency smells produced from this glass severely limits be disturbed. its use with spirits that are very moderate or A good grappa must be brilliant, crystal clear characterised by a smooth taste. and very limpid. With lesser grappas we use Of course, grappa can be served in fi ne crystal terms such as limpid, clear, cloudy, opalescent, glasses equipped with rather long stems. Only milky and, in the worst cases, muddy. on the stems and the base is a light moulding
40 41 Spirit of Life Grappa
the emotional thrust is so strong that, akin to Nosiola and several others, come grappas that esters (except, of course, ethyl acetate) The colour: tonality and intensity the cosmic dualism between good and bad, belong to the category with a prevailing primary with the assistance of limited quantities Without exception all grappas are born colour- the sensations of smell are classifi ed into two aroma. of propionate, butyrate and caproic acid less. Th ose that are aged in barrels of permeable categories: perfumes and bad smells. Th ere Th e secondary aroma derives from the trans- inserted in particular combinations; wood have a colour tone that varies from a thus exists an objective ‘good’ in grappa, which formation of the sugars through the action of barely perceptible straw-hue to rich amber. Th e discredits those who would affi rm that what is the yeast, with the formation of a high number ․ exotic fruit: derives from the presence in essence of the wood with which the aqua vitae good is simply what one likes. and variety of organoleptically active substances. correct proportions of ethyl esters formed comes into contact has a great power to add In forming the aroma of grappa a thousand or Young grappas that don’t originate from vines of from the caproic, caprylic and capric acids; character: it goes from a golden yellow (amber so diff erent molecules converge: an assessment is aromatic fruit predominantly show secondary at times) derived from the oak to the greenish- thus really diffi cult. For this reason the aromatic aromas. ․ hazelnut: an aroma contributed by alcohol yellow of the acacia, from the brown nuances examination is subdivided into two distinct Ageing regulates the formation in the grappa that derives from the transformation of the of the hazelnut to the sharp yellow tonality of phases of equal importance. of the third level of aroma. It multiplies the linoleic acids present in the marc; the ash tree, through to the light green of the In the fi rst the sweet-smelling odorous sub- aromatic profi le considerably, and aged grappas mulberry and that tawny colour of the cherry. stances reach the olfactory mucous membrane are therefore considered to have prevalent third ․ hyacinth: an agreeable fl oral smell due to the Th e colours of grappa are certainly not directly through the nose, and dissolve in the aromas. presence of phenylacetic, which is normally exhausted just within the range of the yellows. mucous that covers them so the appropriate Lastly we have the fourth aroma. It derives present in trace amounts, and is quite In fact the incidental pigments that are contained nerve cells can recognise them. from the association of the grappa with herbs unstable over time; in the aromatised grappa become dissolved in the Th e second phase happens after the swal- and fruits, where there is a prevalence of the distillate and produce diff erent colorations: for lowing of the grappa, via the back of the nose, odorous substances added from the fl ora to ․ peach: clearly noticeable only in the freshest example, green hues (rue) or reds (blueberry). when the volatile and organoleptically active those of the aqua vitae itself. and purest aqua vitae, in which particular Th e intensity determines quantitatively the substances reach the mucous membrane through combinations of esters and lactones are presence of colour, which ideally should not be the oral cavity. Desirable aromas present; too pronounced. Bad smells and pleasant fragrances are the The aroma wrong and right of grappa’s aroma, forming ․ raspberry: an extraordinary but not The judgement of smell Th e aroma of a grappa is the result of a series of a fundamental element for the assessment uncommon aroma present in particularly factors that originate on the vine and culminate of quality. A bad smell, or rather a corruption, fruity grappa, that is rich in traces of active The sensory organ and sensations in the possible aromatisation by herbs that aqua indicates an absence of quality. But with the phenolic esters (like cinnamic ethyl) and In our society there is now affi rmed a concept vitae can undergo before being bottled. lack of defects and the multiplication of good ethyl lactate; of composed and refi ned quality that off ers to Th e primary aroma derives from the combin- features, aromas of quality are achieved, as grappa its raison d’être. In fact we can expect a ation of the organoleptically active substances, outlined below: ․ lily of the valley, lilac and muscatel: classic recovery and re-evaluation at a social level of the whose type and quantity are connected to smells from the terpenic series, clearly recog- sense of smell, and grappa has a lot to off er in climatic factors and, especially, the vine. From ․ apple, banana, strawberry and others: nisable and stimulating, that characterise this regard. varietals like Muscat, Malvasia, Müller Th urgau, very pleasant fruity sensations that are grappas produced with aromatic types of Th e sense of smell is above all an emotion: Riesling, Silvaner, Sauvignon, Traminer, Albana, bestowed on the grappa by the lesser acetic grape;
42 43 Spirit of Life Grappa
oneself be infl uenced by the pungency; combined. to detect acid clearly, it has a certain role in the ․ rose: a curious and surprising aroma that can ․ fi nesse: assessment is made of the quality of Sweetness formation of the taste because, if present in the sometimes resemble grappa produced with sensations present – nobility, deliciousness, In grappa the sweet taste comes from the alcohol right proportions, it improves balance. the marc of Müller Th urgau. delicacy, gentleness, and so on; and from the sugar it contains. Th ese are added not at the end of the distillation process, but Saltiness The parameters for the evaluation ․ frankness: one judges the certainty, the enter the distillate at diff erent moments: by When the grappa gushes from the alembic of the aroma openness, the sincerity, fundamentally the means of the sweetening of the grappa with it doesn’t contain any salty elements. Th e aroma of a grappa is evaluated according to grade of purity of the perceived bouquet; sucrose (legal maximum 2%), during the ageing Subsequently it can be enriched by components the following parameters: process, or in the aromatising (especially with of such valence due to dilution with incorrectly ․ fragrance: always much discussed and the infusion of fruit). demineralised water, or when vegetables rich in ․ intensity: on this measure the aroma is misunderstood, it is of extreme importance salty substances are used during aromatising. assessed in a purely quantitative sense. Th e in the evaluation of the grappa because it Bitterness Such saltiness is obviously a defect. judgement must be expressed without letting concerns the complexity, the articulation Th is sensation is produced by particular com- and the completeness of the bouquet. A ponents present on their own or in combin- A single parameter for judgement: very fragrant grappa emits perfumes of ation: some acids, many polyphenols deriving harmony fruit, fl owers and other pleasant natural from ageing or from certain plants during the Th is is the greatest expression of quality in a substances, and is persuasive, sweet-smelling aromatising, numerous vegetable elements used grappa in terms of its taste profi le, encompassing and full; to add aromas, the copper of the alembics, or the both the fl avour and tactile sensations, and caramel of the colourisation (especially if it is of is due to its discretion, fundamentally to its ․ persistence: the time during which the poor quality). ‘lack of being’. Th e apex is its harmony: grappa olfactory sensations persist after tasting. For invades the oral cavity without any violence grappa it is particularly important for this Acidity and expresses itself in a pleasurable sensation to reach the considerable duration of one Grappa contains numerous organic acids and of warmth, culminating in successive clouds of minute. these increase during ageing. While it is diffi cult aroma.
The judgement of taste Aqua vitae from the marc provokes an initial shock in the mouth, then a pleasant sensation of heat and eventual smoothness expands, and thereafter the true fl avours can be perceived. Th ese can be reduced to two: sweetness and bitterness. Saltiness is practically absent, while acidity is not perceived distinctly but is disguised by the strength of the alcohol with which it is
44 45 Italian recipes Grappa and Italian cuisine talian cuisine has ancient and extraordinary origins. Centuries of Iexperience and contact with other cultures, combined with a history Paccheri with Grappa Alex reduction and cacao beans 50 at times divisive and at times unifying, has made the peninsula of the Spaghetti sapore 51 ‘Beautiful Country’ develop not only an extraordinary national cuisine Risotto with cardoon, Jerusalem artichokes, ground but also a rich variety of regional dishes that are unique in the world. coff ee and Grappa Alex reduction 52 Nowadays we can calmly affi rm that Italian cuisine is the most well Grappa marinated moray with orange sweet and sour known in the world, in terms of both restaurants and individual dishes, vegetable salad 54 sometimes authentic and other times more or less modifi ed, on all Pizza alla fi amma 56 the continents. But it is necessary to remember that this development is not a simple economic effect of globalisation; the introduction of Naif di astice, lobster, mozzarella and tomato with peach and Grappa di Chardonnay puréè 57 the cuisine has often been slow and laborious, spread above all by the strong infl uence of Italian immigrants all over the world, who have Tiramisù alla Grappa Spray 58 given the best of their own traditions to their host countries. In the Crema cotta al caff è with grappa sorbet and coff ee foam 60 end, whether it is a question of fashion or taste, Italian dishes seem Lamb with grappa and bread crostini 62 to satisfy the most demanding foreign palates, and not only the dishes Grappa gelée with Chantilly mint cream 63 but also the wines, liqueurs and distillates. Italian cuisine and aqua vitae – another fundamental element in Tagliatelline with prawns and courgettes 64
the life and culture of this country – have a closely intertwined history. Tazza di cioccolato 66 These recipes represent versions of classic Italian dishes from some Wild strawberry mousse with grappa 67 of Italy’s outstanding modern chefs, as well as current culinary trends, with grappa as protagonist and supporting actor, creating new taste ideas for a variety of menus and occasions.
48 49 Italy Italy
Paccheri Spaghetti sapore
with Grappa Alex reduction Serves 4 and cacao beans
Serves 4
IIngredientsngredients Method Ingredients Method
50 ml Grappa Alex First reduce the grappa in a pan for a few 200 g ricotta cheese Mix the ricotta with a shot of grappa and then 40 g shallot minutes so that the alcohol evaporates. In 2 shots of Grappa Alex place in the oven at 50°C for 4 hours to dry. 80 ml extra virgin olive oil another frying pan sauté the shallot with the 10 San Marzano (plum) tomatoes Cut the ricotta into small cubes and set aside. 400 g paccheri olive oil. Add the grappa reduction. Cook the 1 red chilli Blanch the tomatoes in boiling water, remove 80 g cacao beans paccheri al dente in plenty of boiling water, 2 garlic cloves peel and seeds, and chop into chunks. Sauté drain and mix with the dill, the cacao beans, the chilli and garlic with the olive oil, remove 80 g grated pecorino cheese 100 ml extra virgin olive oil 10 g dill the pecorino and the grappa reduction. the garlic and add the tomatoes. Cook for a 1 sprig of thyme few minutes, stirring with a wooden spoon. Paccheri is a type of pasta; if unavailable 1 sprig of sage Add the herbs and one shot of grappa. Cook use large macaroni or rigatoni pasta 1 sprig of oregano for a few more minutes and add salt to taste. 15 basil leaves Cook the spaghetti in plenty of salted boiling salt to taste water, drain, dress with the sauce and top with 350 g spaghetti the ricotta cubes.
For this recipe use Grappa Alex For this recipe use Grappa Alex
Recipe: Chef Alessandro Circiello, Rome Home recipe
50 51 Italy
Risotto with cardoon, Jerusalem artichokes, ground coffee and Grappa Alex reduction
Serves 6
Ingredients Method
300 g cardoons Clean the cardoons and artichokes, cut them 200 g Jerusalem artichokes into cubes and cook for 10 minutes in a little extra virgin olive oil olive oil. Finely chop the onion and sauté with 1 small onion a little oil, then fi lter the oil and discard the 500 g Carnaroli rice onion. Put the oil back into the pan and sauté the rice, sprinkle with a little grappa and then 2 ml Grappa Alex add the vegetable stock and stir, simmering vegetable stock until the rice is cooked. Add the cardoons and 80 g butter artichokes, then the butter and parmesan and 80 g grated parmesan cheese stir. Divide the risotto between 6 plates, dust coffee powder with ground coff ee and decorate with fried 50 g sugar artichoke slices and with a reduction of grappa about 500 ml vegetable stock made by cooking the grappa with the sugar until syrupy.
For this recipe use Grappa Alex
Recipe: Chef Danilo Angé, Milan
52 Italy Italy
Grappa marinated moray with orange sweet and sour vegetable salad
Serves 4
Ingredients Method For the marinade For the salad Mix all the marinade ingredients with the fi sh Remove the moray from the marinade and stock and grappa, and let it all rest for two dress with extra virgin olive oil, salt and 1 young onion 1 celery heart hours. lemon juice. 1 small carrot 1 artichoke heart 1 celery stick 1 prickly lettuce heart Cut the moray into 5 cm pieces and soak To make the sweet and sour sauce: peel the 1 sprig of thyme 1 small courgette (julienne cut) in the marinade for 5–6 hours. Cook the orange, removing skin and pips. Cook the moray in its marinade in a preheated oven orange fl esh with a little olive oil and the 1 sprig of chervil 1 handful of wild chicory at 80°C for 12 minutes. Lightly mix the fi rst garlic clove. As soon as the sauce starts to boil, 1 tsp black peppercorns 1 handful of borage sprouts 9 salad ingredients. Dress the salad with add the candied orange peel. Blend and salt to ½ l fi sh stock 1 handful of chives (chopped) salt, extra virgin olive oil and a little pepper, taste. Place the moray on the salad and dress 50 ml Grappa Uvaggio Barricato 50 g broad beans, skins removed then arrange in the centre of a serving dish. with the orange sauce. 1 kg moray (peeled and fi lleted) 50 g peas, skins removed juice of ½ lemon salt and freshly ground pepper 100 g extra virgin olive oil 1 orange 30 g candied orange peel 1 garlic clove
For this recipe use Grappa Uvaggio Barricato
Recipe: Chef Gennaro Esposito, Ristorante Torre del Saracino, Vico Equense, Naples
54 55 Italy Italy
Pizza alla fi amma Naif di astice,
Makes 1 pizza lobster, mozzarella and tomato with peach and Grappa di Chardonnay purée
Serves 4 Ingredients Method Ingredients Method
150 g soy-fl our pizza dough Knead the dough and stretch over a pizza pan 200 g black olives Stone the black olives, blend them and spread 80 g canned peeled tomatoes, chopped greased with olive oil. Top with the tomatoes, 1.2 kg lobsters onto a plate covered with baking paper, so as 100 g mozzarella a pinch of salt and the mozzarella, cubed. 350 g mozzarella to obtain a layer about 2 mm thick. Let them 60 g shaved parmesan cheese Place in an oven preheated to 250°C and bake 120 g sundried tomatoes dry in an oven at 40°C for about 3 hours with 1 shot of Grappa Alex for 15 minutes. Add the shaved parmesan and 160 g mixed salad the door slightly open. Blanch the lobster in bake for a further 10–15 minutes. Spray with boiling water for 3 minutes, chill in ice and salt 300 ml emulsion of extra virgin olive oil grappa and fl ambé. Serve immediately. shell. Toss the pulp in a pan for a moment and lemon juice 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil then cut into medallions and put on skewers, 320 g peaches alternating the mozzarella, the lobster and the 200 g sugar syrup sundried tomatoes. 5 rose petals Prepare the mixed salad, dressing it with the 60 ml Grappa di Chardonnay emulsion of extra virgin oil and lemon. Cut 12 g sea salt and blend the peaches after marinating them in a syrup scented with rose petals, and add the Chardonnay grappa before serving. Arrange the salad on a plate, lay the lightly reheated skewers on top, and add the wafers of dried olive. Serve with the peach purée featuring the grappa, fi nishing it all off with a pinch of sea salt.
For this recipe use Grappa di Chardonnay Alexander For this recipe use Grappa Alex Recipe: Chef Mario Iaccarino, Ristorante Don Alfonso 1890, Home recipe Sant’Agata sui due Golfi , Naples
56 57 Italy
Tiramisù alla Grappa Spray
Serves 6
Ingredients Method
4 eggs Beat the egg yolks with the sugar, then fold 4 tbsp sugar in the mascarpone. Beat the egg whites with 500 g mascarpone cheese a pinch of salt to a stiff peak, and fold into a pinch of salt the mascarpone mixture. Soak the biscuits 150 g sponge biscuits in coff ee and arrange in a serving bowl, alternating layers of biscuit and mascarpone 300 ml coffee cream. Sprinkle with cocoa and refrigerate. cocoa powder Serve well chilled, spraying the grappa directly Grappa Alexander Spray to serve onto individual portions.
For this recipe use Grappa Alexander Spray
Home recipe
58 Italy
Crema cotta al caffè with grappa sorbet and coffee foam
Serves 10
Ingredients Method
For the burnt cream For the sorbet For the coffee foam Boil the milk with the cane sugar and the Prepare the sorbet by mixing the syrup, grappa (which has had the alcohol removed) 500 ml milk 500 g di Grappa di 150 g vanilla and coffee ground coff ee in a small saucepan. Remove from the heat, add the rum and the cream, and cream, then freeze it in the ice-cream 150 g cane sugar Moscato Alexander sauce and add the eggs and yolks (whisked in a bowl maker and place in the fridge. 30 g ground coffee 500 ml ice-cream syrup 250 g cream together with the sugar). Mix well and pass 30 ml rum at 38°C 15 ml espresso coffee Add the espresso coff ee to the vanilla sauce, through a colander to remove any remaining cool, then add the cream. Put in a siphon or 500 ml cream 150 ml cream coff ee powder. Distribute the mixture sprayer. 6 egg yolks between ten ramekins and bake them in the 4 eggs oven at 140°C for about 30 minutes. Once Finishing 150 g sugar cooked (to check make sure that the cream has thickened) cool in the fridge. Sprinkle the cane sugar over the cream in the about 100 g cane sugar ramekins and caramelise the sugar. Pour the to caramelise Put the grappa in a pan with high sides and sorbet into glasses and spray over the coff ee heat it. As soon as it is hot, remove from the and chocolate foam. Serve the cream and the heat, carefully fl ambé it, then wait for the sorbet together. fl ame to die out and cool the remaining liquid.
Utensils ice-cream machine This dish is actually composed of two desserts that can also be ovenproof ramekins served separately at different times, and may both be prepared well in advance, 1 or 2 days before their consumption. The sorbet sugar burner should be served soft. siphon For this recipe use Grappa di Moscato Alexander
Recipe: Chef Claudio Sadler, Ristorante Sadler, Milan
60 61 Italy Italy
Lamb Grappa gelée with grappa and bread crostini with Chantilly mint cream
Serves 6 Serves 6
Ingredients Method Ingredients Method
600 g lamb chops Flour the lamb chops and fry well on all 8 g gelatine leaves Soften the gelatine in cold water. Gently heat a little fl our sides in a large frying pan greased with 750 ml Grappa Alex the grappa with 70 g of sugar and add the 200 g pancetta oil. Cook slowly then little by little add the 200 g sugar gelatine. When the gelatine is melted divide 100 g pork meat pancetta (cubed), the pork meat (minced), the 50 g dark chocolate the mixture between 6 crystal dessert cups. 300 g fresh mushrooms mushrooms, bay, sage, rosemary, garlic and 800 ml whipping cream Refrigerate. Finely chop the chocolate and lemon zest. At the end salt to taste. When the sprinkle over the jelly when it is almost set. rosemary fresh mint lamb is well cooked, remove the frying pan Whip the cream with the rest of the sugar and 2 sage leaves from the element, spray the meat with grappa top the jelly cups. Decorate with fresh mint 2 bay leaves and fl ambé. As soon as the fl ame has died leaves and serve. 1 garlic clove out add the stock and cook for a few more lemon zest minutes. When ready add the truffl es, fi nely salt to taste sliced. Serve with toasted Altamura bread. grappa to taste 1 cup stock 2 black truffl es Altamura bread to serve
For this recipe use Grappa Alex For this recipe use Grappa Alex
Recipe: Chef Leonardo Marco, Ristorante Il Poeta Contadino, Alberobello (Bari) Recipe: Chef Marcello Caricola, Ristorante Piccinni, Bari
62 63 Italy
Tagliatelline with prawns and courgettes
Serves 4
Ingredients Method
16 medium prawns Wash the prawns and pat dry. Sauté the 2 garlic cloves garlic cloves with the olive oil. When the 50 ml extra virgin olive oil oil is fl avoured remove the garlic and add 40 ml Grappa di Prosecco Alexander the prawns, sauté them for 2 minutes, then 8 ripe small tomatoes spray with the grappa and fl ambé. Drain the prawns, remove shells and heads and set the ½ glass white wine fl esh aside. Place the shells and claws back in salt to taste the frying pan, add the chopped tomatoes, freshly ground black pepper white wine, salt and pepper, and cook for 2 medium courgettes approximately 10 minutes. Strain and put the 1 tsp butter sauce back in the frying pan. In the meantime 300 g tagliatelline clean and julienne cut the courgettes, add chopped parsley to decorate them to the sauce and cook for 3 minutes. Turn the element off and add the butter. Cook the tagliatelline in plenty of salted boiling water, then drain and sauté for one minute in the frying pan with the prawn sauce. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve.
For this recipe use Grappa di Prosecco Alexander
Home recipe
64 Italy Italy
Tazza di cioccolato Wild strawberry mousse with grappa Serves 4
Serves 6 Ingredients For each chocolate cup For the ice cream For the mousse 100 g chocolate 100 g dark chocolate 6 egg yolks Ingredients Method 75 g cocoa butter 90 g sugar 160 g sugar 250 ml crème anglaise Fold the crème anglaise with the grappa, 25 g cocoa 200 ml espresso coffee 25 ml Grappa Alexander Platinum then gently fold in the beaten egg whites, the 250 ml espresso coffee, 100 g dark chocolate 150 g egg whites (beaten to a stiff peak) cream, vanilla seeds and the wild strawberries. ¼ glass coffee liqueur 50 ml chocolate liqueur 600 ml cream Decorate with more wild strawberries. ¼ glass dark rum 100 ml whipping cream 1 pinch vanilla seeds Grappa Vendemmia Tardiva wild strawberries
Method Chocolate cups For the ice cream For the mousse Melt the chocolate with the Melt the chocolate and add Beat the yolks with 40 g of cocoa butter and then shape the sugar, cocoa, coff ee, sugar and the coff ee. Melt into 4 tea cups with saucers. liqueur and rum. Churn in an the remaining 120 g of sugar ice-cream maker. with a little water until it makes strands. Add the To assemble yolks, mixing vigorously. Add the melted chocolate and the Put the ice cream in the cups and spray each one with liqueur. Let it cool down and Grappa Vendemmia Tardiva. Top with the mousse. then add the cream, whipped.
For this recipe use Grappa Vendemmia Tardiva For this recipe use Grappa Alexander Platinum
Recipe: Chef Heinz Beck, Ristorante La Pergola, Rome Cavalieri Hilton, Rome Recipe: Master Patissier Riccardo Spinnato, Antico Caffè Spinnato, Palermo
66 67 World recipes A culinary voyage with grappa or balance in life it’s essential to achieve a balance of food and drink. Anyone Fwho has overindulged in either – and in all honesty that would include most of EEuropeurope us – can testify at length to the ill-effects of consuming too much alcohol without the leavening effects of a decent meal, or the effects of heavy dining that a good Austria Sacher torte 72 digestivo might have eased. Denmark Roast duck with prunes and apples 74 Grappa takes its place at the table, in moderation and in company with wine, to Finland Chanterelle soup 75 restore balance to the meal. In Italian cuisine the conclusion of a meal with grappa France Pigeonneaux à la Niçoise 76 pays compliment to the preceding courses, cleansing and tantalising the palate Crêpe gâteau 77 before warming and relaxing the digestive system. Grappa also has its place in the kitchen proper, providing an ingredient that can garnish and perfume a wide range Germany Red cabbage and apples with grappa 78 of Italian dishes. Greece Spanakopita (Spinach and feta pie) 80 Those benefi ts can just as easily be conveyed to cuisine from other parts of the Hungary Paprikás Csirke (Chicken paprika) 81 world. In cooking, grappa is a versatile agent that helps to mollify extremes of taste Ireland Custard tart with eau de vie 82 – reducing the saltiness of fi sh or the ‘gamey’ quality of some meats, giving body Netherlands Pannekoeken (Dutch pancakes) 83 and complexity to soups and sauces – in the process giving up much of its alcoholic Poland Borsch 84 content, while retaining the character of the vine. Grappa also has a host of uses in cocktails, as an ingredient in ice cream, and (the latest innovation from Distilleria Portugal Bacalhau croquettes 85 Bottega) in spray form adding a fi nishing fl avour via an atomiser. Russia Blinis with caviar 86 In the recipes that follow, grappa is paired with dishes from over 40 countries. Scandinavia Jansson’s temptation 88 There is an easy adoption of aqua vitae in countries from Norway to South Korea Spain Andalusian oxtail 89 to Brazil, where national white spirits can be replaced by their Italian counterpart. Gazpacho 90 Other recipes introduce grappa as an innovative ingredient, offering an avenue for Sweden Pytt I Panna 92 exploring new gastronomic territories in much the same way as fusion recipes (a few of which are also provided here). Switzerland Malakoff s 93 Read on, then, with a spirit of life. United Kingdom Mince pies 94
70 71 Austria Th is famous Austrian cake was created by the chef Franz Sacher for the Congress of Vienna in 1814–15. Ever since then Austrians – who are serious about their gateaux – have sought out their favourite versions of the cake, while patisseries in Vienna argue about who makes the best and most original Sacher torte.
Sacher torte
Serves 12
IIngredientsngredients MMethodethod 150 g unsalted butter Cream the butter with the sugar, then add 150 g sugar 150 g of melted dark chocolate, the cocoa, the 250 g dark chocolate egg yolks and ground almonds. Beat the egg whites to a stiff peak and add, little by little, 1 tbsp cocoa to the chocolate mixture. Pour into a round 5 eggs baking tin, greased well with butter, and bake 50 g ground almonds in a preheated oven at 180°C for 45 minutes, 100 g fl our or until a toothpick inserted in the cake comes 8 tbsp apricot jam out clean. Allow the cake to cool, cut into 5 tbsp water two disks and fi ll with 5 tablespoons of jam. Th in the remaining jam with 2 tablespoons of hot water and spread over the cake. Melt the remaining chocolate with 3 tbsp of hot water and use to cover the top and sides of the cake. Serve with whipped cream and accompanied by Grappa Alexander Cru.
For this recipe use Grappa Alexander Cru
72 Denmark Finland Infl uenced by its temperate, coastal setting, Denmark’s typical foods such as herrings, Cold nights in the northern latitudes of Europe set the scene for heart-warming soups and fowl and cheeses are served along with the national spirit, aquavit, which is distilled from plenty of white spirits. Renowned for their love of ryyppy (the local strong grain alcohol), grain and fl avoured with herbs. Th is roast duck recipe features the Danish penchant for the Finns are also keen drinkers of aqua vitae. Combining chanterelle mushrooms with a fruit stuffi ng, and is delicious when accompanied by Grappa di Merlot Alexander. tablespoon of Alexander Grappa in this soup provides food for the stomach and for the soul.
Roast duck Chanterelle soup
with prunes and apples Serves 4
Serves 6
IIngredientsngredients MMethodethod IIngredientsngredients MMethodethod 100 g stoned dried prunes Soak the prunes with the Alexander Grappa 1 small onion Finely chop the onion and place in a saucepan 4 tbsp Grappa di Merlot Alexander for 1 hour. Clean the duck, rub the cavity with 250 g chanterelle mushrooms with the chanterelle mushrooms and the butter. Sauté for a few minutes, then add the 1 x 2.5 kg duck salt and pepper and then stuff with the soaked 20 g butter prunes and the apple, peeled and sliced. Place grappa and stir in the fl our. Add the chicken salt and pepper to taste 1 tbsp Grappa di Cabernet Alexander the duck in an oven pan and brown in the stock, always stirring, and simmer for 1 apple 1 tbsp fl our oven at 190°C for 15 minutes, then add 15 minutes. Add the cream, salt and pepper 1 tbsp fl our 750 ml of boiling water and roast at 160°C for 400 ml chicken stock to taste and simmer for a few more minutes. two hours. Before serving strain the drippings 100 ml cream Serve hot, garnished with chopped parsley. into a saucepan, add the fl our and salt to salt and pepper to taste taste, and boil to make a gravy. Serve hot with 1 tbsp chopped parsley to garnish the gravy on the side.
For this recipe use Grappa di Merlot Alexander For this recipe use Grappa di Cabernet Alexander
74 75 France France France is the land that gave us the word ‘cuisine’ and the richness of its culinary heritage ensures that there are many French dishes that can incorporate grappa as ingredient and accompaniment. From the distinctive cuisines of Normandy and Brittany to the Mediterranean mélange of Marseilles, France also presents a great tapestry of dishes. Th ese two recipes can merely begin the discussion that the distillate of northern Italy so fruitfully has with la cuisine française.
Pigeonneaux Crêpe gâteau
à la Niçoise Serves 10
Serves 4
IIngredientsngredients MMethodethod IIngredientsngredients MMethodethod 12 small white onions Peel the onions and place them in a saucepan For the crêpes Make a batter by mixing the fl our with the with the butter, salt and pepper to taste and milk, and adding the eggs one by one. Let 1 tbsp butter 250 g fl our 2 tablespoons of the chicken stock. Cover and it rest for 30 minutes, then add the melted salt and pepper 500 ml milk simmer for 20 minutes. In a large casserole butter. Using a crêpe pan or frying pan make 100 ml chicken stock sauté the 4 pigeons with the olive oil until 4 eggs about 25 to 30 very thin crêpes and set aside. 2 tbsp olive oil they are golden all over. Add the bay leaf, 50 g butter Make the fi lling by vigorously mixing the 4 pigeons the grappa, the onions and the rest of the butter with the sugar, add the grappa and For the fi lling 1 bay leaf chicken stock. Cover and simmer on low for keep mixing until quite airy. Stack all the 6 tbsp Grappa di Amarone Alexander 15 minutes. Add the olives and cook for 10 100 g unsalted butter crêpes one on top of another on a serving 100 g pitted black olives more minutes. In the meantime cook the 5 tbsp sugar plate, spreading each one with some of the 500 g mangetout peas mangetout peas in salted boiling water for 3 tbsp Grappa Alex fi lling. Gently warm a few tablespoons of 5 minutes. Drain the peas and put them on apricot jam to glaze apricot jam and use it to glaze the top and a large serving plate. Top with the pigeons, sides of the gateau. Serve cold, cut into slices, olives and onions and serve immediately. and accompanied by more Grappa Alex.
For this recipe use Grappa di Amarone Alexander For this recipe use Grappa Alex
76 77 Germany Home to a varied cuisine, where generous portions are the norm, Germany is also well known as a major consumer of beer, wine, and of course, eaux de vie. Th e popularity of cabbage is not limited to sauerkraut: Germans’ love of sweet-and-sour combinations fi nds expression in this vegetable dish using apples (one of the country’s major fruits) and grappa.
Red cabbage and apples with grappa
Serves 4
IIngredientsngredients MMethodethod 1 onion Finely chop the onion and sauté in a saucepan 1 tbsp oil with the oil. Add the red cabbage, chopped, ½ red cabbage and the apples, peeled and sliced. Stir and after a few minutes add the grappa, water, and 2 green apples salt and pepper to taste. Cover and simmer for 2 tbsp Grappa di Sauvignon Alexander about an hour. Serve hot or cold, accompanied 50 ml water by more grappa. salt and pepper to taste
For this recipe use Grappa di Sauvignon Alexander
78 Greece Hungary With over 70% of Greece’s land still used for growing crops or grazing animals, fresh Paprika is without doubt the leading culinary ‘brand’ from Hungary, in the heart of Central produce is never far from reach. A favourite that relies on good spinach and feta cheese Europe. Ground from red peppers to a range of strengths, paprika is rich in vitamin C and, is spanakopita, one of the favourite Greek dishes around the world. Its delicious fi lling of course, full of spicy, zesty fl avours. Th is recipe is a fresh spin on the Hungarian staple is encased in fragrant fi lo pastry, and it calls out for an accompaniment of fi ne spirit – in paprikache, a stew using chicken or fi sh along with paprika and sour cream. which case an Italian distillate serves just as well as the local ouzo.
Spanakopita Paprikás Csirke Spinach and feta pie Chicken paprika
Serves 6–8 Serves 6
IIngredientsngredients MMethodethod IIngredientsngredients MMethodethod 1 kg spinach Wash the spinach, sprinkle with salt and set 1 chicken Cut the chicken into large pieces. Finely chop 1 onion aside for 15 minutes to reduce in size. Rinse 1 onion the onion then place in a large saucepan with 1 tbsp olive oil under cold water and drain. Finely slice the 2 tbsp oil the oil and sauté for a few minutes. Add the onion and sauté with the olive oil until soft paprika, then the chicken and salt. Sauté 400 g feta cheese 1 tbsp paprika but not brown. In a bowl crumble the feta for about 10 minutes, turning the chicken salt salt cheese, add the spinach, onion, oregano, pieces often, then add the peppers, sliced, pepper and oregano to taste pepper and salt to taste, remembering that 2 red peppers and the tomato puree. Cover and simmer on 250 g butter feta cheese is already quite salty. Grease a 1 tbsp tomato puree low heat until cooked, adding a little water 500 g fi lo pastry large baking tray with butter and cover with 1 tbsp fl our only if necessary. Mix the fl our with a little two sheets of fi lo pastry. Brush with more 400 ml sour cream sour cream, making sure there are no lumps. melted butter and repeat, until you have Add the rest of the sour cream and the juices about 5 or 6 sheets of pastry left. Spread from the chicken, then cook for fi ve minutes with the spinach and feta mixture and cover or until the sauce thickens. Combine with with the remaining fi lo pastry sheet, always the chicken pieces and serve, accompanied by brushing with butter every two layers. Bake Grappa Sandro Bottega Fumè. in a preheated oven at 180°C for 50 minutes, until the top is golden brown. Serve hot or cold, accompanied by Grappa Alex.
For this recipe use Grappa Alex For this recipe use Grappa Sandro Bottega Fumè
80 81 Ireland Netherlands Th e rich dairy farming of the ‘Emerald Isle’ makes cream, milk, butter and cheese a In a nation known more for hearty good food and dairy products than haute cuisine, cornerstone of Irish cooking. Using liqueur deepens the complexity and aroma of this pancakes are a favourite – as witnessed by the numbers of dedicated pancake traditional Irish custard tart. Washed down with a good spirit, the tart is a novel way to restaurants. Often the pancakes are as wide as 30 cm, and come in a range of styles and celebrate St Patrick’s Day. fl avours, always best served hot. Th e Netherlands’ place as a trading crossroads has brought world fl avours into play alongside traditional favourites like these.
Custard tart Pannekoeken with eau de vie Dutch pancakes
Serves 12 Serves 4–6
IIngredientsngredients MMethodethod IIngredientsngredients MMethodethod 300 ml cream In a saucepan slowly heat the cream, milk, 250 g fl our Mix the fl our with the milk, little by little 300 ml whole milk sugar and grappa. In a separate bowl beat 500 ml milk so as not to form lumps. Add the eggs, the 125 g sugar the eggs and egg yolks, then pour in the hot 2 eggs butter, melted, salt and sugar. Grease a large milk mixture, stir vigorously, and strain. Roll frying pan with butter, heat it, then pour 2 tbsp Uve d’Alexander Acquavite d’Uva 1 tbsp butter plus more butter out the pastry and place in a 24 cm round in 2 or 3 tablespoons of the pancake batter. 4 eggs plus 2 egg yolks for greasing the pan baking tin, fi ll with dried beans and bake at Cook until the surface is dry, fl ip the pancake pinch of salt 350 g sweet shortcrust pastry 175°C for 15 minutes. Remove the beans and and cook the other side. Continue until all ground nutmeg for sprinkling fi ll with the custard, sprinkle a little ground pinch of sugar the batter is fi nished, and serve hot either nutmeg on top and put back into the oven as a savoury dish, with bacon or ham, or as a for 20 minutes, or until the custard is set. dessert, with stewed apples or chocolate sauce Cool completely before cutting and serving. and whipped cream, always accompanied by Accompany with more grappa. Grappa Alex.
For this recipe use Uve d’Alexander Acquavite d’Uva For this recipe use Grappa Alex
82 83 Poland Portugal Soups are a feature of the Polish obiad or meal, and it is common to drink a strong spirit It befi ts a maritime nation that alongside rice, potato and cabbage, Portugal counts fi sh at the start of the meal. Borsch (or borscht) is one of the most popular soups and comes as one of its staple foods – preferably not just any fi sh but the salt cod, or bacalhau. in a wide variety of recipes, including those based on pork, chicken and fi sh, as well as Among all its variety of seafood dishes, those that use bacalhau are perhaps closest to this beef version – all with the essential ingredient of beetroot. the heart of Portuguese gourmands. Th rough its mild winters and tolerable summers, seafood consumed with judicious amounts of liquor are a staple of life in Portugal.
Borsch Bacalhau croquettes
Serves 6–8 Makes approximately 30
IIngredientsngredients MMethodethod IIngredientsngredients MMethodethod 500 g beef, cubed Put the beef and the onion into a large stock 200 g dried cod Soak the cod in water for 24 hours, changing 1 onion, chopped pot, cover with 3 litres of water and bring 350 g potatoes the water frequently. Th en boil for 30 minutes, drain, remove the skin and mash 3 red beetroot to the boil. Simmer for one to two hours, 1 onion until the meat is tender, regularly removing into a fi ne paste. Boil the potatoes with their 1 tbsp butter 1 clove of garlic the foam that forms on the surface. Cut the skins on, peel and mash, and add to the cod. 1 tbsp tomato paste 2 eggs beetroot into small sticks, put them into a pan Add the fi nely chopped onion and garlic, the 1 tbsp vinegar with the butter and tomato paste and cook for 2 tbsp chopped parsley eggs, the parsley and pepper to taste. Drop 1 carrot one hour, adding some of the broth from the black pepper one spoonful of mixture at a time into the 2 potatoes meat from time to time. Add the vinegar and oil for frying boiling oil and cook on both sides until golden half cabbage set aside. Cut the carrot, potatoes, cabbage in colour. Serve hot, accompanied by Grappa 1 garlic clove and garlic into thin strips and add to the meat di Cabernet Alexander. salt and pepper to taste stock. Cook for about 15 minutes, then add fresh parsley and dill for decoration the beetroot and cook for 5 more minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste, decorate with sour cream to serve fresh parsley and dill leaves, and serve hot or cold, with sour cream, accompanied by Grappa Uvaggio Barricato.
For this recipe use Grappa Uvaggio Barricato For this recipe use Grappa di Cabernet Alexander
84 85 Russia Th ink of a sumptuous Russian entrée featuring the best of that great nation’s caviar or smoked salmon, and you have the perfect setting for blinis. Th ese are among Russia’s most popular culinary exports, and the national taste for white spirits makes Alexander Grappa a natural complement to this delicious pancake dish.
Blinis with caviar
Makes about 12
IIngredientsngredients MMethodethod 15 g fresh yeast Dissolve the yeast and sugar in 170 ml of ½ tsp sugar warm water. Mix the two fl ours with the egg 170 ml water yolk, then the water and yeast and let it rest for one hour. Add the milk, lukewarm, and 70 g plain fl our fi nally the egg white, beaten to a stiff peak. 70 g buckwheat fl our Grease a frying pan with butter and, when 1 egg moderately hot, spoon in about half a ladle 170 ml milk of mixture to make a round shape no bigger sour cream and caviar to serve than 10 cm in diameter. Cook on both sides for about two minutes. Serve the blinis warm, topped with sour cream and caviar, and accompany with Grappa Alexander Platinum.
For this recipe use Grappa Alexander Platinum
Recipe: Chef Andrey Shenkevich, Cicco Club, Moscow, Russia
86 Scandinavia Spain Claimed by the Swedes as their own – although there is no clear idea of how this dish At the dinner table, where Spaniards remain late into the evening, rich cuisine and got its distinctive name – Jansson’s Temptation is popular throughout Scandinavia. It is warming liquor work their magic to animate the conversation. Such is the warm and social often served as a side dish but can also make a hearty main, and it goes without saying character of Spain’s 40 million people and their aff ection for good living. Dishes like the that the tasting of aqua vitae has been part of the ‘temptation’ since the recipe was two presented here provide a taste of the joyfulness of that table, and grappa moves easily created. across the Mediterranean from its Italian origins to integrate with Spanish cuisine.
Jansson’s temptation Andalusian oxtail
Serves 4–6 Serves 4–6
IIngredientsngredients MMethodethod IIngredientsngredients MMethodethod 2 onions Finely slice the onions and fry with 1 kg oxtail Cut the oxtail, carrots and onion into large 3 tbsp butter 2 tablespoons of butter until soft but not 3 onions pieces, add salt and pepper to taste, then 4 large potatoes brown. Peel and cut the potatoes into very 3 carrots marinate with the wines and grappa for thin slices into a bowl of cold water. Grease a 48 hours. Remove the oxtail from the 100 g anchovy fi llets salt and pepper to taste baking pan with the remaining butter, pat the marinade and sauté with the olive oil for fi ve 2 tbsp breadcrumbs 500 ml dry white wine potatoes dry and place a layer on the bottom minutes. Add the onions and carrots, and pepper to taste of the pan, then build up several layers of 100 ml red wine then the wine marinade mixed with the fl our. 200 ml cream potato, onions and anchovies, fi nishing with 2 tbsp Grappa di Brunello di Montalcino Bring to the boil then cover and simmer for a layer of potatoes. Sprinkle the top with Alexander two and a half hours. Serve the meat with its breadcrumbs and pepper and cover with 2 tbsp olive oil sauce. cream. Bake in a preheated oven at 200°C for 2 tbsp fl our 45 minutes. Serve hot accompanied by Grappa di Prosecco Alexander.
For this recipe use Grappa di Prosecco Alexander For this recipe use Grappa di Brunello di Montalcino Alexander
88 89 Spain
Gazpacho
Serves 4
IIngredientsngredients MMethodethod 500 g ripe tomatoes Drop the tomatoes in boiling water for a few 1 red pepper seconds to loosen the skins, then peel and 2 garlic cloves chop them. Chop the red pepper, peel the garlic and put everything in the blender with 2 tbsp olive oil (optional) the olive oil (if desired) and the icy water. 300 ml icy water Blend until smooth, then add salt and pepper salt and pepper to taste to taste. Refrigerate for a few hours. To serve ice cubes to serve fi ll tall tumblers with gazpacho, top with ice Grappa Alexander Spray cubes and spray with Grappa Alexander Spray.
For this recipe use Grappa Alexander Spray
Recipe: Chef Sergi Farres, Cbg, Ripoll, Spain
90 Sweden Switzerland Th is favourite Swedish dish is a lightly fried sort of hash, good soul food for a gathering For a country of its modest size, it’s easy sometimes to overlook the diversity of of friends or family. It has been said of Swedish cuisine that quality of ingredients Swiss culture. Just as it is home to German, French, Italian and Romansh languages, counts for more than culinary experimentation, and it is certain that the cuisine is Switzerland also has a variety of gastronomic styles – ranging from the Italian infl uences designed for drinking aqua vitae. Skol! in the Tessin, the similarities with Savoy in the western cantons, and the German colours further to the north.
Pytt I Panna Malakoffs
Serves 4 Serves 6
IIngredientsngredients MMethodethod IIngredientsngredients MMethodethod 4 large potatoes Peel the potatoes and cut them into 1 cm 500 g gruyère cheese Cut the gruyère into 5x7 cm rectangles, 2 tbsp butter cubes, then fry with the butter and oil until pepper sprinkle with pepper and set aside. Mix the 2 tbsp oil golden and crisp. Remove the potatoes from 200 g fl our fl our with the salt, baking powder and white the frying pan and set aside. Slice the onions wine. Beat the egg whites to a stiff peak, then 2 onions pinch of salt and sauté them in the same frying pan, adding add to the batter and mix. Coat the gruyère 500 g cooked beef half tsp baking powder a bit more oil if necessary, until transparent pieces with the batter and fry in plenty of oil. 200 g smoked ham but not brown. Add the beef and smoked 100 ml dry white wine Serve immediately, accompanied by Grappa di 2 tbsp Grappa Alex ham, also cut into 1 cm cubes, and cook for 2 egg whites Cabernet Alexander. 1 tbsp chopped parsley 10 minutes. Add the potatoes and the grappa, oil for frying salt and black pepper to taste cook for one more minute and divide between 4 egg yolks four plates. Sprinkle with chopped parsley, salt and black pepper, and top each plate with a raw egg yolk. Serve immediately.
For this recipe use Grappa Alex For this recipe use Grappa di Cabernet Alexander
92 93 United Kingdom Around Christmas time the request for mince pies in British bakeries is more likely to be for fruit tartlets than steamy meat pies. Small pies fi lled with fruit mincemeat – a tangy mix of dried fruit and spices – are delicious eaten warm (from the oven is great) but also cold for grazing on over yuletide. Eat these with a liquor accompaniment and imagine yourself in a British country pub on a wintry day. AAsia-Pacifisia-Pacifi c
Australia Warm lamb and mint salad 96 Mince pies China Peking style fried tofu 98 India and Pakistan Almond and pistachio sweets 100 Makes 12 Indonesia Gado gado 101
Japan Yakitori 102 IIngredientsngredients MMethodethod Korea Sikumchi Kuk (Pork with spinach) 104 For the fi lling Mix all the fi lling ingredients together in a large bowl. Cut the pastry into 24 circles, Malaysia Stir-fried beef with vegetables 105 2 grated apples making half slightly smaller, as they will be 1 tbsp sultana the tops. Place the larger pastry circles into New Zealand Oyster fritters 106 1 tbsp mixed citrus peels well greased patty tins, divide the fi lling Pacifi c Islands Kokoda (Raw fi sh in coconut cream) 107 1 tbsp chopped blanched almonds between them and cover with the smaller 2 tbsp brown sugar circles. Th ailand Tom Yam Goong (Spicy prawn soup 2 tbsp Grappa Uvaggio Barricato Sprinkle with sugar and bake in a preheated with lemongrass) 108 1 lemon (juice and rind) oven at 200°C for 25 minutes. Serve hot or a pinch of nutmeg cold. Vietnam Tom Cang Nuong (Grilled prawns) 110
250 g shortcrust pastry sugar for dusting
For this recipe use Grappa Uvaggio Barricato
94 95 Australia Th is is a national cuisine that testifi es to rich agricultural production and the diversity of the peoples who now call Australia home. British, Italian, Greek, Pacifi c Island and many other infl uences combine in Australia to create some truly innovative approaches to staple ingredients, as in this recipe for a lamb salad that is served with grappa.
Warm lamb and mint salad
Serves 4–6
IIngredientsngredients MMethodethod 400 g lamb fi llets Brush the lamb fi llets with one tablespoon 2 tbsp olive oil of olive oil and barbecue on both sides until 1 red onion well done. Wrap immediately in aluminium foil and set aside for 10 minutes. Finely slice 100 g cherry tomatoes the red onion and put into a salad bowl. Add fresh mint leaves the tomatoes, the fresh mint leaves, then the 1 tbsp lemon juice lamb, cut into bite size pieces. Dress with salt and pepper to taste the remaining olive oil, the lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately, accompanied by Grappa di Cabernet Alexander.
For this recipe use Grappa di Cabernet Alexander
96 China Chinese has to be the world’s most widespread cuisine – it’s hard to think of a modern city that doesn’t have a good range of restaurant off erings from the Middle Kingdom. In China too, it’s no surprise that the feeding of 1.3 billion people requires speed and ingenuity! No one dish can alone stand for this centuries-old cuisine, so this recipe simply represents a smart, zappy dish that is clean on the palate.
Peking style fried tofu
Serves 4
IIngredientsngredients MMethodethod 400 g tofu Cut the tofu into 1.5 cm thick slices, coat 4 tbsp fl our with fl our, then with the beaten eggs, and 2 eggs fry in hot oil until all sides are golden. Add the chopped chives, ground ginger, grappa, oil for frying sesame oil and salt. Pierce the tofu with a fork 1 tsp chopped chives and cook until all liquid has evaporated. Serve 1 tsp ground fresh ginger hot, with soy sauce. 4 tbsp Grappa di Moscato Alexander 1 tbsp sesame oil pinch of salt soy sauce to taste
For this recipe use Grappa di Moscato Alexander
98 India and Pakistan Indonesia Sweets from the Indian subcontinent are really a food category to themselves, the use of Often accompanied by arak (rice spirit) in its native Indonesia, gado gado is an easy-to- milk, spices, nuts and other ingredients creating a unique taste experience. As with their make, spicy and nutty treat. Th ere are thousands of regional twists in this archipelago of Chinese neighbours, the migration of millions of Indian and Pakistan nationals around 13,600 islands, but in general Indonesian cuisine is noted for its many uses of rice and the world has made these dishes more accessible. Arriving at the end of the meal, these noodles, its chicken and seafood dishes, and of course its use of seasonings – after all, almond and pistachio sweets create a climax to an Indian feast when accompanied by eau this is the home of the Spice Islands. de vie Alexander.
Almond Gado gado
and pistachio sweets Serves 4
Makes 16
IIngredientsngredients MMethodethod IIngredientsngredients MMethodethod 1 l full cream milk Put the milk in a saucepan and boil, stirring 2 garlic cloves Finely chop the garlic and fry with the oil for 175 g sugar constantly, until it reduces and becomes 1 tbsp oil 1 minute. Add the peanut butter, water, 200 g ground almonds thicker. Add the sugar and boil for 10 more 6 tbsp peanut butter coconut milk, chilli sauce and soy sauce and minutes. Add the ground almonds and the bring to the boil. Simmer for 10 minutes, 1 tbsp blanched pistachio nuts 200 ml water chopped pistachio nuts and stir until the stirring frequently until the sauce thickens. 200 ml coconut milk mixture forms a mass around the spoon. Add the lemon juice and set aside. Boil the Pour onto an oiled marble surface and spread ½ tbsp chilli sauce vegetables and the eggs, rinse under cold with a knife to a 2 cm thickness. Allow to cool 4 tbsp soy sauce water to cool, cut into big chunks and divide slightly then cut into 16 diamond shaped 1 tbsp lemon juice between four plates. Top with the peanut slices. Serve cold, accompanied by Uve 2 potatoes sauce and serve, accompanied by Grappa d’Alexander Acquavite d’Uva. 2 carrots Uvaggio Barricato. 20 green beans 4 eggs
For this recipe use Uve d’Alexander Acquavite d’Uva For this recipe use Grappa Uvaggio Barricato
100 101 Japan For refi ned dining and drinking it’s hard to go past Japan. Th e Japanese are as enthusiastic about food as they are about drink; yakitori is one dish that naturally balances clean, sophisticated cooking with fi ne spirits. Whereas the tradition would be to drink saké or shochu, the innovation is to use grappa here.
Yakitori
Serves 4
IIngredientsngredients MMethodethod 8 tbsp soy sauce Put the soy sauce and mirin into a small 4 tbsp mirin (sweet cooking saké) saucepan and simmer until the sauce is 400 g chicken meat (preferably thighs) reduced to half. Th read 4 pieces of meat onto cut into 2.5 cm cubes each skewer and barbecue on one side. Turn over, brush with the sauce and barbecue on bamboo skewers the other side. Turn over again, brush with ground red pepper sauce and sprinkle with red pepper. Serve Grappa Alex to serve immediately accompanied by small glasses of Grappa Alex.
For this recipe use Grappa Alex
102 Korea Malaysia Strong white spirits from the soju family are staple fare in a good Korean restaurant, Malaysian cuisine off ers a refreshing meeting point for the three cuisines of its peoples – so a dish like this savoury pork adapts easily to grappa. Korean cooking is particularly Malay, Chinese and Indian. Th e Malay infl uence of spices meets the classic Chinese stir- good when it comes to heartening foods for colder weather – refl ecting the long freezing fry in this recipe that is a favourite in the excellent restaurants and street stalls of the winters in both the north and south – so you might like to try this combination for country – one that combines really well with Grappa di Merlot Alexander. dinner when the nights become longer.
Sikumchi Kuk Stir-fried beef Pork with spinach with vegetables
Serves 4 Serves 4–6
IIngredientsngredients MMethodethod IIngredientsngredients MMethodethod 600 g spinach Wash the spinach and break into large pieces 400 g steak Cut the steak into long strips, coat with the 250 g pork fi llet with your hands. Cut the pork into very 1 tbsp cornfl our cornfl our and brown sugar, drizzle with the 1 tbsp oil thin strips and stir-fry with a tablespoon of 1 tsp brown sugar soy sauce and set aside. Slice the carrot, oil and the garlic, very fi nely chopped. Stir caulifl ower and pepper into bite size pieces 2 garlic cloves 4 tbsp soy sauce constantly, then as soon as the meat browns and stir-fry with 2 tablespoons of oil for a 2 tbsp soy sauce 4 tbsp oil add the spinach, the soy sauce and the salt few minutes. Remove the vegetables from salt and pepper to taste and pepper to taste. Cover and simmer until 1 carrot the pan and set aside. Add the remaining oil 2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds the spinach wilts (about 2 minutes) and serve 1 small caulifl ower to the pan, heat and add the garlic, minced, hot, garnished with toasted sesame seeds and 1 green pepper the grated ginger and, after a few seconds, accompanied by Grappa Sandro Bottega Fumè. 100 g bean sprouts the steak strips. Stir-fry the beef for a few 2 garlic cloves minutes, then add the bean sprouts and, after 1 tsp grated fresh ginger one minute, the vegetables. Stir one more time and serve immediately, accompanied by Grappa di Merlot Alexander: the meat should be tender and the vegetables still crunchy, and they will fi nd an excellent match in the grappa.
For this recipe use Grappa Sandro Bottega Fumè For this recipe use Grappa di Merlot Alexander
104 105 New Zealand Pacifi c Islands Oysters are a much-savoured delicacy in New Zealand, with the most sought-after One of the defi ning experiences of life in the scattered islands of the South Pacifi c being from Bluff at the extreme southern point of the South Island. All over this island is catching fi sh from a reef, collecting coconuts from a palm and creating a raw fi sh nation, oyster season provides the chance to buy take-out fritters from seafood stores, extravaganza. Eating fi sh raw may seem challenging to Western palates, but after all but better yet to cook the fresh oysters at home for a delicious entrée accompanied by sashimi is one of the best ways known to eat fi sh, and a coconut sauce fl avours and grappa. tenderises your fi sh to a succulent turn.
Oyster fritters Kokoda
Serves 3–4 Raw fi sh in coconut cream
Serves 4
IIngredientsngredients MMethodethod IIngredientsngredients MMethodethod 12 oysters Remove the oysters from the shells and drain. 400 g fresh tuna Use only very fresh tuna: cut the fi sh into very 2 eggs Make the batter by mixing the eggs with the 150 ml lime or lemon juice thin strips, place in a bowl with the lime or 4 tbsp fl our fl our, then add salt and pepper to taste. Drop half an onion lemon juice, cover and place in the fridge to the oysters in the batter, pick them up with marinate for 2–3 hours. Finely slice the onion, salt and pepper to taste 100 ml coconut cream a spoon and drop them again in the hot oil. mix with the coconut cream, the coriander, oil for frying 1 tbsp chopped fresh coriander Fry them until golden and serve immediately, salt and pepper to taste and, if using, the chilli lemon wedges to serve with lemon wedges and shot glasses of grappa. salt and pepper to taste (fi nely chopped with seeds discarded). When 1 red or green chilli (optional) the tuna is ready, drain it of all its juices, stir in the coconut mixture and serve immediately, accompanied by Uve d’Alexander Acquavite d’Uva.
For this recipe use Grappa di Prosecco Alexander For this recipe use Uve d’Alexander Acquavite d’Uva
106 107 Thailand Spicy, zesty fl avours in meals using fresh seafood and vegetables – light yet nourishing – are what draw us to Th ailand. Never colonised, Th ailand has maintained its easy-going welcome to foreigners since the age of discovery, sharing its sunshine, beaches and history with the world. Accompanying a meal like this soup with fi ne grappa provides a boutique alternative to fi ery Th ai whiskies.
Tom Yam Goong Spicy prawn soup with lemongrass
Serves 1
IIngredientsngredients MMethodethod 200 ml chicken stock Boil the chicken stock in a pot. Add the 10 g lemongrass lemongrass, kaffi r lime leaves, galangal, 2 kaffi r lime leaves coriander root and straw mushrooms. Add the prawns, season with the fi sh sauce, sugar, lime 5 g galangal juice and chilli paste in oil, then bring back 5 g coriander to the boil. Remove from the heat, pour into 45 g straw mushrooms a bowl, and garnish with red and green chilli 80 g peeled prawns with tails and coriander leaves. Accompany with Grappa 25 ml fi sh sauce Alexander Platinum. 5 g sugar 25 ml lime juice 10 g chilli paste in oil 4 g red and green chilli to garnish
For this recipe use Grappa Alexander Platinum
Recipe: Chef Ralph Frehner, Hong Kong.
108 Vietnam Vietnamese people are serious about their food, taking hours in the preparation of intricate dishes. Although this recipe will take only a fraction of that time, Tom Cang Nuong prawns are a good representative of Vietnamese grilled seafood that can be served as a snack or integrated into a set meal. AAmericasmericas
Argentina Matahambre 112 Tom Cang Nuong Brazil Biscoitos de maizena 113 Grilled prawns Canada Frangipane 114 Bermuda Bermuda chicken 116 Serves 4–6 Caribbean Roast pork calypso 118
IIngredientsngredients MMethodethod Mexico Fresh tomato salsa 119 Finely chop the onion and garlic and mix with 1 onion United States Blueberry tart 120 1 garlic clove the oil. Shell and clean the prawns and toss 1 tbsp oil into the chopped vegetables to coat. Place in the fridge and let them marinate for 4 or 500 g king prawns 5 hours. Grill the prawns on both sides and 1 lime serve with a dip made by mixing the juice of salt and pepper to taste the lime with a tablespoon of water and plenty Grappa Alexander Spray of salt and pepper. Spray generously with the grappa spray.
For this recipe use Grappa Alexander Spray
110 111 Argentina Brazil Beef from Argentina is among the best in the world, a product of the vast pampas that It is a pity that Brazilian cuisine is not as well known as the other attractions of Latin extend from central Argentina to the South Atlantic Ocean. Th ese days travellers can even America’s largest and most populous country (with 186 million citizens). Eating fresh buy fi ne cuts at Buenos Aires airport to cook at home. With its strong Italian connection fi sh or feijoada at a beachside restaurant while drinking a cool beer or cachaça cocktail is it is not uncommon to fi nd grappa on the table in Argentinean homes and restaurants, a true earthly delight, often topped off by the cakes or desserts that Brazilians love. complementing meat dishes like this ‘hunger killer’ (as ‘matahambre’ literally translates).
Matahambre Biscoitos
Serves 6 de maizena
Makes approximately 28 biscuits
IIngredientsngredients MMethodethod IIngredientsngredients MMethodethod 1 kg beef steak Marinate the steak overnight in a mixture 200 g cornfl our Mix the cornfl our with the icing sugar and 100 ml red wine vinegar of vinegar, beer, olive oil, onion and garlic. 100 g icing sugar salt. Add the butter, cubed, and mix well, 100 ml beer Remove the steak and fl atten with a meat 1 pinch of salt then add the egg and keep mixing until a pounder, then add salt and pepper to taste soft dough forms. Refrigerate for 30 minutes 2 tbsp olive oil 150 g unsalted butter and top with the potato, carrots and chillies, then, using two teaspoons, drop small pieces 1 onion 1 egg all cut into thin slices. Roll up the steak and of mixture onto a greased oven tray, leaving 4 garlic cloves secure with kitchen twine. In a large a few centimetres space between the biscuits, salt and pepper to taste casserole brown the bacon and set aside. as they will fl atten while baking. Bake in a 1 potato Brown the steak on all sides, then add the preheated oven at 180°C for 7 minutes, and 3 carrots bacon, marinade juices, the bay leaf and let cool completely before removing from 2 fresh chillies 500 ml of water. Simmer for 2 hours, turning the tray. Lovely and delicate, these biscuits 4 slices of bacon the steak roll over several times during will melt in your mouth, and are perfect 1 bay leaf cooking. Slice and serve, accompanied by accompanied by Grappa Alexander Cru. Grappa di Cabernet Alexander.
For this recipe use Grappa di Cabernet Alexander For this recipe use Grappa Alexander Cru
112 113 Canada Th e original English and French food traditions that arrived with the founding of modern Canada have been enriched over recent decades by the many immigrant groups that have made their home in the world’s second largest country. Th is recipe combines frangipane custard (which originated in Europe in the seventeenth century) with semolina shells and a delicious white chocolate and grappa sauce, from the multi award-winning kitchen of Cioppino’s restaurant in the beautiful coastal city of Vancouver.
Frangipane
Serves 12
IIngredientsngredients MMethodethod Frangipane Semolina dough White chocolate and Mix the soft butter, sugar and almond fl our Melt the cream and white chocolate together grappa sauce thoroughly with the paddle attachment of an in a bain marie until combined. Add the 250 g soft butter 600 g semolina electric mixer. With the mixer on medium- grappa at the end, and cool the sauce on an ice 250 g sugar 250 g almond fl our 150 g white chocolate high speed, add the eggs one at a time, with bath. 250 g almond fl our 250 g sugar (chopped) 3–4 minutes between each egg. Add the To assemble the tart, roll the semolina dough 6 eggs 3 whole eggs 150 g cream grappa at the end. Let the frangipane rest for with fl our until 6 mm thick, and cut in circles 50 ml Grappa Alexander 2 egg yolks 15 ml Grappa Alexander 6 hours before using. Platinum to fi t tart shells. Blind-bake the tart shells Platinum 250 g cold butter (cubed) Combine the semolina, almond fl our and until the dough looks dry, but not too dark. vanilla extract sugar in the mixer bowl with the paddle Fill with the frangipane mixture and bake fi nely grated rind of attachment. Add the eggs, yolks, vanilla until they are puff ed and golden. Serve the 1 lemon extract and lemon to the dry ingredients, and tarts with the sauce. mix well. Add butter and mix until the dough comes together.
For this recipe use Grappa Alexander Platinum
Recipe: Chef Pino Posteraro, Cioppino’s Restaurant, Vancouver, Canada
114 115 Bermuda Situated 920 km off the US east coast, the islands of Bermuda are Britain’s oldest colonial territory. Th e local cuisine has been shaped by a vast range of infl uences from not only Britain but the many nationalities of sailors, traders and, in modern days, tourists that have washed up on its shores. Bermuda off ers a wide range of restaurants and recipes, like this Caribbean chicken dish, which sits perfectly alongside grappa.
Bermuda chicken
Serves 4
IIngredientsngredients MMethodethod 4 chicken breasts Gently fl atten the chicken breasts with a salt and pepper to taste mallet and sprinkle with salt and pepper. 1 shallot Finely chop the shallot and sauté in a frying pan with the olive oil. Next mix the 1 tbsp olive oil breadcrumbs, herbs, egg yolk and sautéed 200 g breadcrumbs shallot in a bowl with some salt and pepper 1 tbsp chopped parsley to taste. Use the same frying pan to sauté half tbsp chopped rosemary the chicken for a few minutes on each side. half tbsp chopped thyme Place the chicken breasts in an oven dish 1 egg yolk and divide the breadcrumb mixture between them, pressing it down on the top side only. Put under a hot grill for one minute or until golden. Serve crumb side up, accompanied by Grappa di Prosecco Alexander.
For this recipe use Grappa di Prosecco Alexander
116 Caribbean Mexico Th e rhythm and warmth of the Caribbean island nations have given the world uplifting Mexican food is making its way out of restaurants and into the home-cooking of people music and zesty food, and their good rums set off the cuisine nicely. A small range of in the West. Inside the United Mexican States (there are 31 states in the nation) there is ingredients used creatively refl ect the life, close to nature, of most island inhabitants. considerable variety but also loyalty to staples like corn, rice and chicken. Th e Mexican Th is dish shares the name ‘calypso’ with the much-loved musical form, and combines cook can use a favourite handful of these ingredients to create unforgettable tastes and well with grappa, which moderates the gamey taste of the roast pork. textures, and in place of tequila there is plenty of scope for the use of eau de vie.
Roast pork Fresh calypso tomato salsa
Serves 8 Serves 8 or more
IIngredientsngredients MMethodethod IIngredientsngredients MMethodethod 1.5 kg roasting pork Place the pork in a deep container and cover 1 kg ripe tomatoes Cover the tomatoes with boiling water for a 400 ml water with the water, add the grappa, salt, garlic 1 onion few seconds to crack the skin, then peel them, 2 tbsp Grappa Alex cloves and thyme, and let the meat marinate 2 cloves garlic remove the seeds, and chop fi nely. Also fi nely for a few hours. Finely chop the onion and mix chop the onion, garlic and chilli, and put 1 tbsp salt 1 fresh chilli (possibly Mexican) it with the parsley. Make a few incisions in the everything into a large bowl. Mash with your 3 garlic cloves 2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander meat and stuff with the onion mixture and the hand or a wooden spoon into a thick salsa, 1 sprig thyme cloves. Put the pork and its marinade juices 2 tbsp Grappa Alexander Cru add the chopped coriander, the grappa and 1 white onion into a large roasting dish and bake at 160°C salt to taste salt to taste. Serve as a dip for tortillas, bread, 1 tbsp chopped parsley for 30 minutes or until the meat is cooked vegetables and meat, and accompany with 10–12 cloves through. more grappa.
For this recipe use Grappa Alex For this recipe use Grappa Alexander Cru
Recipe: Chef Dario Figarolo, Ristorante Ciao, St Kitts and Nevis Recipe: Chef Alicia Gironella De’ Angeli, Mexico City, Mexico
118 119 United States Blueberries have been prized since the earliest days of Native American settlement, and the fi rst settlers relied heavily on the fruit. So for Americans today across the 50 states, the traditional blueberry pie is close to the heart, often eaten as part of national celebrations on the 4th of July. Indeed, the whole of July is National Blueberry Month. MMiddleiddle EastEast aandnd AAfricafrica
Israel Red berry brioche and mascarpone-grappa cream sandwich 122 Blueberry tart Lebanon Tabbouleh 124 Morocco Lamb kebabs 126 Serves 10 Nigeria Banana bread 127
Tunisia Roast vegetable salad with tuna 128 IIngredientsngredients MMethodethod Turkey Roast peppers with garlic yoghurt 130 1 kg fresh blueberries Mix the blueberries with the sugar, grappa 4 tbsp sugar and thyme. Roll the pastry into a large circle 2 tbsp Grappa di Moscato Alexander to line a tart dish, well greased with butter, and pour the blueberries inside. If desired top 1 sprig fresh thyme with more strips of pastry, making a criss- 200 g sweet shortcrust pastry cross pattern. Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C for 25 minutes, or until the pastry is golden. Serve warm or cold, accompanied by Grappa di Moscato Alexander.
For this recipe use Grappa di Moscato Alexander
Recipe: Chef Tony May, Restaurant San Domenico SD26, New York, USA
120 121 Israel Jewish cooking has added complexity and innovation to nations wherever Jewish communities have existed. Since the establishment of the state of Israel out of the British mandate of Palestine in 1948, those traditions have blended with the tastes of the eastern Mediterranean and the addition of European ingredients. Th is sophisticated brioche is a classic example of modern Israeli cuisine.
Red berry brioche and mascarpone-grappa cream sandwich
Serves 6
IIngredientsngredients MMethodethod MMascarponeascarpone creamcream For the brioche For the cream Dissolve the yeast in the milk. Blend the yeast, Blend all ingredients in a mixer until a milk, fl our, sugar and eggs in a mixer with a smooth, stable cream appears. 15 g fresh yeast 250 g mascarpone kneading hook until a smooth, homogenised 20 ml milk 100 g icing sugar paste appears. Gradually add the butter as CCompositionomposition 325 g sieved fl our 1 egg yolk the mixer spins, until it is totally integrated. 40 g sugar ½ vanilla stick Knead for 5 minutes to produce a smooth, Slice the brioche horizontally, as if preparing 4 eggs grated peel from half a lemon and very soft and somewhat sticky dough. Move a sandwich. Add a little mascarpone cream using a piping bag with a smooth mouthpiece 115 g diced cold butter half an orange the dough to a bowl, cover and let rise for (1 cm diameter) to one half of the brioche. 50 ml Grappa Alex about 90 minutes, until its volume has doubled. Generously garnish with the fresh red berries, and cover with the other half. Add some 250 g fresh mixed red berries Punch the dough and refrigerate for an hour. powdered sugar on top for garnish. icing sugar to garnish Roll out the dough until it is 2.5 cm thick, place it in a baking dish with baking paper, and freeze overnight. Cut the dough into identical 5 x 15 cm rectangles, place them on a baking sheet with baking paper, and let rise for 30 minutes until they have doubled For this recipe use Grappa Alex in volume. Heat the oven to 180°C. Bake the brioche rectangles for 20 minutes until they’re golden brown. Recipe: Chef Raffi Cohen, Resto-Bistro Rafael, Tel Aviv, Israel
122 123 Lebanon Just to the north of Israel, the tiny nation of Lebanon can lay claim to one of the great crossover dishes of Middle Eastern cuisine, widespread throughout the Western world. Especially popular as a summer salad, tabbouleh uses the cracked or bulgur wheat so integral to Lebanese cooking, with the addition of olive oil, lemon juice and herbs providing a real Mediterranean dash.
Tabbouleh
Serves 4
IIngredientsngredients MMethodethod 250 g bulgur wheat Put the bulgur wheat in a large bowl and pour 500 ml boiling water over the boiling water, little by little. Add the 5 tbsp olive oil olive oil and the juice of 1 lemon and stir. Add the mint, parsley and tomatoes, fi nely 1 lemon chopped, and then stir again. Finally add salt 2 tbsp chopped mint and pepper to taste, cover and leave in a cool 2 tbsp chopped parsley place (not the fridge) for a few hours. Before 4 tomatoes serving stir again to loosen the grains, add salt and pepper to taste more salt and pepper if necessary, decorate 5 spring onions with chopped spring onion and a spray or two Grappa Alexander Spray of Grappa Alexander Spray.
For this recipe use Grappa Alexander Spray
124 Morocco Nigeria Moroccan cuisine is in vogue around the Western world, witnessed by a growing line-up of Banana bread and banana cakes are made all over Africa, and each region in this teeming cookbooks with vivid colour photos that are bringing the North African taste to more and more continent of 1 billion people adds its own interpretation. Here we add Grappa Alex for dinner tables. Moroccan restaurants are also on the way up whether in Chicago, Paris or Sydney, an Italian take on some irresistible banana bread, a good dish for using up really ripe building on the international taste for such well-known dishes as lamb kebabs. At home in this bananas, not to mention conjuring tastes of a warm and vibrant continent. mostly agricultural nation, there is also a growing Western infl uence in gastronomy.
Lamb kebabs Banana bread
Serves 6 Serves 12
IIngredientsngredients MMethodethod IIngredientsngredients MMethodethod 1 kg lamb meat Cut the meat into 2 cm cubes and marinate 100 g butter Cream the butter with the sugar, and then 1 fi nely chopped large onion for a few hours with the chopped onion, 100 g sugar add the eggs, one by one. Blend the bananas 50 g fi nely chopped parsley parsley, cumin, salt and pepper. Stir from 2 eggs with the grappa and add to the mixture. Mix time to time to make sure all the ingredients in the fl our, baking powder and salt, plus a 1 tsp ground cumin 4 very ripe bananas are well mixed. Th read the meat cubes onto few sultanas, if using. Pour into a rectangular salt and pepper to taste 4 tbsp Grappa Alex 12 skewers and cook on the barbecue or bread tin, greased and fl oured, and bake at under a hot grill for a few minutes each side. 400 g fl our 175°C for about one hour, or until a toothpick Serve hot with grappa shots. 2 tsp baking powder inserted into the bread comes out clean. Serve 1 pinch salt with salted butter, or with a sweet butter sultanas (optional) made by mixing icing sugar, grappa and butter.
For this recipe use Grappa di Cabernet Alexander For this recipe use Grappa Alex
126 127 Tunisia Coastal Tunisia is well known internationally for its seafood, thanks to the bounty of the Mediterranean and the enthusiasm of the over 6 million foreigners who visit each year. Among the favourite starters served here is mechouia, a salad of tomatoes, peppers, egg and fi sh, usually tuna. Th is recipe gives a roast vegetable variation on the mechouia basics, perfect as a fi rst course or a light meal.
Roast vegetable salad with tuna
Serves 6
IIngredientsngredients MMethodethod 3 large tomatoes Place the tomatoes, peppers and onions in 3 peppers (red, yellow and green) an oven preheated to 200°C; and after 2 large red onions 10 minutes remove the tomatoes, set aside to cool and return the other vegetables to the 3 hard-boiled eggs oven. After 15 minutes remove the peppers, 1 can of tuna and after another 15 minutes the onions. 4 tbsp olive oil Remove the skins from the vegetables and cut 2 tbsp lemon juice them into thick slices. Divide the vegetables, ½ tsp caraway seeds sliced boiled eggs and tuna between 6 plates. salt and pepper to taste In a bowl mix the olive oil, lemon juice, black olives to decorate caraway seeds, and salt and pepper, then drizzle over the salads. Decorate with black olives and serve, accompanied or followed by Grappa di Prosecco Alexander.
For this recipe use Grappa di Prosecco Alexander
128 Turkey Th e morning call of bread sellers in the city streets is a lasting memory of a visit to Turkey. Fresh food, whether from a baker, a fruit and vegetable market or a convivial café is integral to Turkish life. Tangy delights like these roasted peppers with garlic yoghurt are frequently accompanied by Turkey’s own white spirit, raki, and sit well alongside grappa. FFusionusion cuisinecuisine
Beetroot and feta salad 132 Roast peppers Iced persimmons à la Créole 133 with garlic yoghurt Grappa and orange infused olives 134 Leek and potato soup 135 Serves 4 Roast pumpkin with grappa 136
Stuff ed mushrooms with grappa 138 IIngredientsngredients MMethodethod Swordfi sh with coriander and grappa butter 139 6 peppers (2 red, 2 yellow and 2 green) Place the peppers in an oven heated to 200°C, 3 tbsp olive oil or under a grill, turning frequently, until salt to taste the skin has blackened. Peel carefully, cut into long slices, and dress with olive oil and 300 ml thick Greek style plain yoghurt salt. Finely chop the garlic and mix with the usion cuisine has met great success around the globe because 1 garlic clove yoghurt, adding more salt if desired. Serve the of its innovative mix of culinary traditions and ingredients from peppers with the yoghurt, accompanied by F Grappa di Merlot Alexander. different countries. Borders in the kitchens are breaking down thanks to the passion of chefs and enthusiasts, giving free rein to their creativity and sourcing freely from an endless palette of tastes and fl avours. The following recipes fi nd a common denominator in the grappa, which appears as an extremely versatile ingredient, able to accompany meals from starter to dessert.
For this recipe use Grappa di Merlot Alexander
130 131 Fusion cuisine Fusion cuisine
Beetroot Iced persimmons and feta salad à la Créole
Serves 4 Serves 4
IIngredientsngredients MMethodethod IIngredientsngredients MMethodethod 4 medium beetroot Cook the beetroot in boiling water for about 4 persimmons Cut off the tops of the persimmons and scoop 1 tsp balsamic vinegar 30 minutes or until soft. Rinse under cold 1 tbsp Uve d’Alexander Acquavite d’Uva out the pulp without breaking the skins. Put 2 tbsp olive oil water, peel, cut into cubes and place in a 8 scoops vanilla ice-cream the pulp into a bowl and add the grappa. salad bowl with the balsamic vinegar, olive Let the fruit macerate for one hour. In the salt and pepper to taste oil and salt and pepper to taste. Cut the feta meantime put the persimmon shells and tops 200 g feta cheese cheese into cubes and add to the salad, mix, in the freezer. After an hour blend the pulp parsley leaves to decorate and decorate with parsley leaves. Follow with to a fi ne paste, mix with the vanilla ice-cream Grappa Uvaggio Barricato. and fi ll the empty persimmon shells. Cover with the tops and freeze for about an hour before serving.
For this recipe use Grappa Uvaggio Barricato For this recipe use Uve d’Alexander Acquavite d’Uva
132 133 Fusion cuisine Fusion cuisine
Grappa and orange Leek infused olives and potato soup
Serves 4 Serves 6–8
IIngredientsngredients MMethodethod IIngredientsngredients MMethodethod 1 orange Peel the orange and remove all the membrane 3 leeks Wash and fi nely slice the leeks. Peel and 250 g large black and green olives from its segments. Put into a bowl with the 4 large potatoes slice the potatoes, put all the vegetables in a 1 tbsp Grappa Alex olives and the grappa and stir. In a frying pan 1 tbsp olive oil large saucepan with the olive oil and sauté. heat the oil with the orange zest and cumin Add the grappa and stir until all liquid has 2 tbsp olive oil 4 tbsp Grappa Sandro Bottega Fumè seed for two or three minutes until fragrant been absorbed. Add the hot vegetable stock, 1 tsp orange zest 1.5 l vegetable stock (do not burn), then add to the olives. Let the cover and simmer for 40 minutes, or until 1 tsp cumin seeds olives marinate for a few hours before serving, 1 tbsp chopped parsley the potatoes are soft. Top with the chopped as an appetizer, accompanied by Grappa Alex. parsley and serve.
For this recipe use Grappa Alex For this recipe use Grappa Sandro Bottega Fumè
134 135 Fusion cuisine
Roast pumpkin with grappa
Serves 6
IIngredientsngredients MMethodethod 1 pumpkin (about 1 kg) Peel, deseed and cut the pumpkin into bite 1 shallot size pieces. Finely chop the shallot, put into 3 tbsp olive oil a baking pan with the pumpkin pieces, and stir in all the other ingredients. Bake in a 2 tbsp Grappa Alex preheated oven at 180°C for 35 minutes or 1 tbsp soy sauce until the pumpkin is cooked. Adjust with 1 sprig rosemary more salt if necessary, and serve hot or cold. salt and pepper to taste
For this recipe use Grappa Alex
Recipe: Alessandra Zecchini, Alessandra Zecchini, author and cooking instructor, Auckland, New Zealand 136 Fusion cuisine Fusion cuisine
Stuffed mushrooms Swordfi sh with grappa with coriander and grappa butter
Serves 3 Serves 4
IIngredientsngredients MMethodethod IIngredientsngredients MMethodethod 6 large fl at mushrooms Clean the mushrooms, remove the stalks, and 25 g fresh coriander Finely chop the coriander and mix well with 6 tbsp olive oil set them aside. Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a large 100 g butter the softened butter. Gently warm 1 tbsp salt and pepper to taste frying pan and sauté the mushrooms on both 1 tbsp Grappa di Prosecco Alexander of grappa and fold into the butter; shape sides for a few minutes, then add salt and into a small log, seal with plastic wrap and 4 tbsp breadcrumbs 650 g swordfi sh steak pepper to taste and arrange, stalk side up, refrigerate. Cut the swordfi sh into 4 steaks 4 tbsp chopped parsley 4 tbsp olive oil in an oven dish. Finely chop the stalks and and marinate for 2 hours in an infusion of 2 garlic cloves mix with the breadcrumbs, chopped parsley, 2 tbsp lemon juice olive oil, lemon juice and (optional) lime juice, 2 tbsp Grappa Uvaggio Barricato chopped garlic and grappa. Add more salt and 1 tbsp lime juice (optional) salt and pepper. pepper and the rest of the olive oil and mix. salt and pepper to taste After 2 hours grill the swordfi sh steaks Fill the mushrooms with the mixture, pressing on both sides for a few minutes, cut the it down gently with your hands, and bake at coriander butter into 4 pieces, and place a 180°C for 20 minutes. piece on top of each steak. Serve immediately, accompanied by more grappa.
For this recipe use Grappa Uvaggio Barricato For this recipe use Grappa di Prosecco Alexander
138 139 Cocktail recipes Grappa for cocktail mixing ny good collection of cocktail mixers should include Alexia 144 Agrappa. As a versatile spirit that provides body and fl avour, grappa adds an extra dimension for parties or for Alex Winter 144 a drink at the end of the day. Alex Summer 144 These days the permutations of grappa produced from Caff è Shakerato 146 the Veneto region allow great ease of use in cocktails. Dalmatia 146 Take the white and amber Grappa Alex for example, or the Dolce Vita 146 amber Grappa Uvaggio Barricato, or the stronger Grappa Don Antonio 148 Alexander Platinum, all of them used for some of the sophisticated cocktails in this chapter. Fast & Furious 148 Take grappa spray and give a few bursts to top off a G8 148 cocktail – the new-generation atomiser-sprays provide a Grigioverde 149 particularly fl avoursome cloud. Lady Christy 149 This selection of cocktail recipes gives a taste of the Luxor 149 many combinations and fl avours that can be built up from Passion Flower 150 a grappa base. Sun 150 Valery 150
142 143 Cocktail recipes
Alexia
4/10 Grappa Alexander Platinum Pour the ingredients into a shaker, add ice and 3/10 coffee liqueur shake vigorously for a few moments. To one side prepare some grated melting chocolate. 2/10 chocolate cream Wet a cocktail glass with grappa from the 1/10 cream rim to halfway down the glass, then stick the grated chocolate to the sides of the glass. Finally pour in the shaken ingredients.
Alex Winter
6/10 Grappa Alex Pour the ingredients into a shaker, add two 3/10 orange juice cubes of ice and shake vigorously for a few moments. Serve the cocktail in chilled glasses. 1/10 strawberry syrup 2 drops of lemon juice
Alex Summer
6/10 fresh watermelon juice Pour the ingredients into a shaker with 3/10 Grappa Alex crushed ice and shake vigorously for a few moments. Serve the cocktail in well-chilled 1/10 Triple Sec cocktail glasses. Decorate with a slice of 2 drops of lemon juice watermelon.
Alex Summer
144 Cocktail recipes
Caffè Shakerato
1 shot of espresso coffee Pour all the ingredients into a shaker and 2 cubes of ice shake vigorously for a few moments. Serve in a cocktail glass. 1 tsp sugar syrup 20 ml Grappa Alex
Dalmatia
5/10 Grappa Uvaggio Barricato Prepare some chocolate topping inside 3/10 white chocolate cream chilled cocktail glasses in order to create the Dalmatian spotted eff ect. Pour the ingredients 2/10 cream into a shaker, add ice and shake vigorously for a few moments. Pour into the cocktail glasses, vaporise with grappa spray and grate over fl akes of orange-fl avoured chocolate.
Dolce Vita
3/10 Uve d’Alexander Acquavite d’Uva Pour the fi rst four ingredients into a shaker, 1/10 grappa limoncino add ice and shake vigorously for a few moments. Pour into tall glasses and fi ll with 1/10 Dry Orange Bols the Fragolino rosso. Decorate with a citrus 2/10 orange juice display. 3/10 Fragolino rosso
Dalmatia
146 Cocktail recipes Cocktail recipes
Don Antonio Grigioverde
6/10 Grappa Uvaggio Barricato Pour the ingredients into a shaker, add ice and 2/3 Grappa Alex Pour the grappa and the syrup into a shaker, add two cubes of ice and shake vigorously for 3/10 Triple Sec shake vigorously for a few moments. Serve 1/3 mint syrup in cocktail glasses and aromatise with grappa a few moments. Serve the cocktail in a chilled 1/10 lemon juice spray. Decorate with a slice of lemon and a glass and decorate with a mint leaf. a few drops of sugar syrup cocktail cherry.
Fast & Furious Lady Christy
3/10 Grappa Alex Pour the ingredients into a shaker, add ice and 4/10 Grappa Uvaggio Barricato Pour the ingredients into a shaker, add ice 1/10 orange liqueur shake vigorously for a few moments. Pour into 2/10 coffee liqueur and shake vigorously for a few moments. Pour a cocktail glass. Garnish with a fruit skewer into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a dusting of 4/10 grapefruit juice 2/10 Amaretto (strawberry, cocktail cherry and orange slice). ground coff ee. 2/10 strawberry syrup 2/10 cream
G8 Luxor
6/10 Vodka Pour the grappa, the vodka and the Martini 2/10 Uve d’Alexander Acquavite d’Uva Pour the fi rst four ingredients into a shaker, Bianco into a shaker, add two cubes of ice and 3/10 Grappa Alex 2/10 Martini Bianco add ice and shake vigorously for a few shake vigorously for a few moments. Serve the moments. Pour into a cocktail glass and add 1/10 Martini Bianco 2/10 Aperol cocktail in a chilled glass. the Fragolino rosso. Decorate with a slice of 2/10 orange juice orange and chocolate fl akes. 2/10 Fragolino rosso
148 149 Cocktail recipes
Passion Flower
3/10 Grappa Alex Pour the ingredients into a shaker, add ice and 3/10 Triple Sec shake vigorously for a few moments. Pour into a cocktail glass. Garnish with sculpted radish, 3/10 Blue Curaçao carrot, pineapple and pineapple leaf. 1/10 lemon juice
Sun
4/10 Uve d’Alexander Acquavite d’Uva Pour the ingredients into a shaker, add ice and 3/10 Triple Sec shake vigorously for a few moments. Pour into a tumbler. Add 2/10 of alcohol-free bitter to fi ll 2/10 Orange liqueur the glass. Garnish with an orange slice. 1/10 strawberry syrup orange juice
Valery
4/10 Grappa Alex Pour the ingredients into a shaker, add ice and 2/10 Triple Sec shake vigorously for a few moments. Wet the rim of the cocktail glass with a slice of orange 3/10 Aperol and dust with sugar. Pour in the cocktail and 1/10 orange juice decorate with one slice of orange, another of lemon, and a red cherry.
Passion Flower
150 Glossary
Acquavite d’uva. Distilled spirit Distillation. Technique for separating produced with the pulp, must and volatile substances through heating marc of grapes. and subsequent cooling and collection of the extracted vapours. Aged Grappa. Grappa refi ned in wooden barrels for at least one year. Grappa. Italian distillate, produced Grappa varieties aged in 225-litre oak exclusively with the marc of Italian barriques take the name ‘barricate’. grapes.
Alembic. Distilling apparatus used in the Marc. Th e skins remaining after the production of grappa. grapes have been pressed for making wine. Th e marc is used to make Aqua vitae. Literally ‘water of life’ grappa. (Latin). Any of the strong, distilled spirits. Organoleptic. Relating to the senses and the sensory organs. Aromatic Grappa. Grappa obtained through the distillation of aromatic Single Vineyard Grappa. Grappa grape varieties. produced with only one variety of grape. Aromatized Grappa. Grappa obtained with the infusion of aromatic plants White or young Grappa. Grappa and fruit. refi ned in stainless steel barrels.
153 Index
Illustrations are indicated by page numbers aromas See grappa - aromas in italics aromatisation See grappa - aromatisation art 21 acidity 45 Asia 13 Acquavite di vinacce 12 Asia-Pacifi c recipes 95–110 ageing See grappa - maturation Australia 96 Agusti, Miguel 34 Austria 72 Albana 42 Alcaeus 18, 20 bàcari 17, 25 alchemy 13, 14 Bacchanals 23 alcohol 30, 32, 33, 70 Bacchus 21, 23 aldehydes 32 bagaçeira 25 alembics 16, 33, 34, 35–36 ballon 41 Alps 26 Barolo 32 Alto Adige 32 beer 17, 22 Americas recipes 111–120 Benedict, Saint 24 aqua vitae 12–17, 25, 27, 30, 32, 35, 36, Benedictine monks 24 38, 41, 42, 43, 44, 88 Bermuda 116 arak 101 Bible, the 22 Ararat, Mount 18, 22 bitterness 45 Argentina 112 Brazil 113 aristocracy 16 Buenos Aires 112
155 Spirit of Life Index
Camaldolesi 24 Friuli 16, 25, 32 Homer 19 Mesopotamia 12, 17, 22 Campania 23 fusion cuisine 131 Hungary 81 Mexico 119 Canada 114 fusion cuisine recipes 131–139 Middle East and Africa recipes 121–130 Caribbean 118 India 13, 100 monasteries 24 Catullus 23 Garzoni, Tomaso 15 Indonesia 101 Morocco 126 Caucasus 18, 22 Gaul 22 inns 12, 17, 25 Müller Th urgau 32, 42, 44 China 98 Germany 26, 34, 78 Ireland 82 Muscat 32, 42 Christianity 18, 22, 23, 25 glasses 41 Israel 122 must 26, 30, 34, 35, 36 Christmas 94 God 12, 13, 18, 22 Italian recipes 47–67 cicheti 17 gods 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 Italy 12, 25, 26, 32 Napoleon 26 cocktail recipes 141–151 grapes 12, 17, 22, 26, 27, 30 cuisine 48 Netherlands 83 coff ee 15, 16, 25, 39 grappa immigrants 48 New Zealand 106 col gotesin 16 aged 33, 38, 45 Nigeria 127 convivium 23 aromas 30, 32, 38, 45 Japan 102 Noah 18, 22 coppiere (cupbearer) 25 aromatisation 38 Jeff erson, Th omas 27 Nosiola 43 as food ingredient 16, 17 Jesus Christ 23 Denmark 74 bars and shops 12, 15, 17 Odyssey, Th e 21 Devil , the 18 colour 42 Kircher, Atanasio 34 organic acids 30 digestion 39, 70 culture 27, 39, 40 Korea 104 orujo 25 Dionysus 21, 23 evaluation of aromas 42–44 ouzo 80 distillation column 34, 35, 35, 36 maturation 38, 42, 43 lactones 43 distillation techniques 35–38 medicinal properties 12, 13, 16, 18, 24, 26, Lambrusco 22 Pacifi c Islands 107 distilleries 14, 16 38–39 Lana, Francesco Terzi 34 Padana plains 23 origins 12, 16, 34 laws See grappa - regulations Pakistan 100 Egypt 12, 13, 17, 18 regulations 32–34 Lebanon 124 peasants 12, 15–16, 26 elements 13, 30, 32 spray 16–17, 70, 142 lees 32, 43, 44 Philippines 108 esters 32, 43 supernatural properties 12, 13, 24 literature 21 phylloxera 34 ethyl acetate 32, 43 tasting 41–45 Lombardy 33 Picolit 26 Etruscans 22–23 temperature 38, 40–41 Piedmont 15, 33 European recipes 71–94 visual judgement 41 maceration 35 Plato 20, 26 Greece 20–21, 22, 23, 25, 27, 80 Malaysia 105 Poland 84 fi ltration 38 guild 14 Malvasia 42 Portugal 25, 85 Finland 75 malvasie 25 Prosecco 25 fl utes 41 herbs 16, 43 marc 12, 25, 32, 34–35, 36 raki 130 France 25, 76, 77 Hippocrates 19 medicine See grappa - medicinal properties rakia 25
156 157 Spirit of Life
refrigeration 38 terpenes 32 regulations See grappa - regulations Th ailand 108 Renaissance 13, 25 Traminer 42 resentin 16 Trentino 33 Riesling 32, 42 Treviso 12, 14, 24, 26 Rome 21, 22–24, 25 Tunisia 128 Rupescissa 13 Turkey 130 Russia 86 Turks 15
Saint John the Baptist 14 United Kingdom 94 saké 102 United States 120 Salernitan school 34 saltiness 45 Val d’Aosta 15 Sant’Erasmo 26 Vancouver 114 Sauvignon 42 Veneto 14, 16, 23, 33, 142 Scandinavia 88 Venice 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 25, 26 Scola (School) of the Art of Aqua di Vita 14 Vienna 72 Sebastopol 26 Vietnam 110 shochu 102 Vignole 26 Sicily 22 vines 18, 21, 22, 23, 24, 34, 42 Silvaner 42 vineyards 20, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 33 Slavonia 38 soju 104 wine 12, 13, 17–24, 24–27 Spain 25, 34, 89, 90 as medicine 19, 24 spices 15, 17 consumption 19, 20, 24, 27 sugars 43, 45 supernatural properties 18, 19 Sweden 92 winemaking 17, 20, 22 sweetness 45 witches 14 Switzerland 93 world recipes 69–139 symposium 20, 23 Xenophon 20 tasting See grappa - tasting taverns 17, 25, 27 yeast 43
158