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Spirit of Family
GioBatta: was my great-grandfather's name. He used to make straw hats, a flourishing trade in those days, but his true passion was Grappa. He built a small still, put it up on a small cart and used to go door to door distilling pomaces - the skins of pressed grape. This is how our story began, back in 1898.
My grand-father Giovanni inherited his father's passion; he built a still by modifying a locomotive steam engine. My grand-father was a true patriarch. He looked as though he had been sculptured in granite. He reminded me of the noble Sordello whom Dante (a famous Italian poet) depicted as "altera e disdegnosa e nel mover de li occhi onesta e tarda, a guisa di leon quando si posa" (a dignified and disdainful person, with honest and slow moving glance, like a lion at rest). Giovanni was a man of great moral principles (he used to say "Vendi caro ma pesa giusto" meaning "Sell for its right weight"), rather an enlightened and progressive man: he was the first person to own a car for miles around and his phone number was 2 (number 1 belonged to the Tel.Ve., the local telephone company of that time). He loved to surround himself with literate people; in fact, at his table, on Sundays, you would always find Don Giovanni Toniolo and Dr. Tegon. Together they would read and discuss "Il Popolo" and "L'Unità", the newspapers dealing with the political issues of those days.
My father, Toni Poli, proudly rode, like a second Ligabue (an Italian painter), his red Guzzi motorcycle of the fifties ("...in Egypt there were no spare parts and the Eskimos almost killed me!" - he recalled his adventures). In 1956 he modified the original alembic for distillation we still use today. In his hands I saw the Grappa transforming and from a mere chrysalis becoming a magnificent butterfly. He was a very understanding person, too noble to be a successful businessman. It is from him that I learned that in order to win one must make sacrifices.
So here I am, born in a still. I do hope I will be able to fill my forefathers' shoes. Together with my siblings Giampaolo, Barbara and Andrea, I am determined to continue the tradition and to make people understand and appreciate the hard work, the constancy but, above all, that kind of Love which is part of a Distillate, a total Love for our art, for our world, a Love without which nothing would be possible.
Jacopo Poli
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 Distillerie Poli
Distillerie Poli is a small scale artisan producer of the finest grappa, located in Schiavon in the heart of Veneto. The Poli family have been operating their distillery for over a century since Jacopo's great grandfather, GioBatta (or Titta), a maker of straw hats by trade yet a lover of grappa by passion, built a small illegal still on a cart and went door to door distilling the pomace of grapes. In 1898 Titta’s son Giobatta transformed his father's passion for Grappa into a business. His still was made by modifying a locomotive steam engine. Giobatta was a rather enlightened and progressive man, he was the first person to own a car for miles around and his phone number was 2 (the number 1 belonged to the Tel. Ve., the local telephone company of that time). Giobatta’s son, Toni Poli, fused his father’s reputation for integrity with his own great creative energy and skill in the distiller's art. His children, Jacopo, Giampaolo, Barbara and Andrea Poli maintain the company's reputation for producing Grappas of extremely high quality.
The Poli still is one of the oldest operating in Italy today, only slightly modified by Toni Poli from the original still in 1956. The excellent quality of their products is a result of selecting only the best fruit to undergo distillation in a traditional pot still. The still itself is a steam-driven copper cauldron which is operated in a slow, discontinuous, or double, distillation cycle. This gentle process captures the very essence of the fruit. Production only occurs during harvest, from the middle of September to the end of November, when the distillation materials are at their freshest. It is with great passion that the master artisans of the family create unique products which have earned them a world wide reputation for top quality.
“Grappa does not exist. Grappas exist – affirms Jacopo Poli, – Each one is different because there are different regions of origin, vineyards, characteristics of the pomace, types of stills, distillation styles, harvests, ageing, etc… This is a group of factors that contributes to creating an infinite number of grappas, each one unique and inimitable”.
Osteria Pantagruel offers four grappas by Distillerie Poli:
A real classic Grappa di Bassano (40% vol.) with an ideal balance of aroma and taste, with beautiful hints of fresh white bread.
Grappa Moscato (40% vol.) has a chiffon-like smoothness, very accented aromas of flowers, fruits, pears, nutmeg and bread toasts. Quite an intriguing drink.
Grappa Poli Barrique, 1991 (55% vol.) could easily be called a High-End grappa. Vanilla, chocolate, cream, pipe tobacco… A nice treat for those who still has to be converted into a grappa lover.
An finally, there is a very particular grappa that deserves a separate attention of Italian wine connoisseurs. In 1994, Marchese Nicoló Incisa della Rocchetta invited Jacopo Poli to assume production of Grappa di Sassicaia. It’s a noble distillate of Cabernet Sauvignon and a small percentage of Cabernet Franc pomace from vines within the estate of the Tenuta San Guido. The distillation is initiated directly after the pomace is soft pressed from the skins. The pomace is placed in the cauldron and distilled with steam to yield the "cotta" or stew. This takes place over a period of about three hours at the end of which the raw material is spent. The cauldron is emptied and the cycle is re-initiated. The heads and tails are then eliminated so that the heart of the Grappa preserves the purest spectrum of primary aromas and flavors of the pomace from which it is derived. The finished spirit spends four years in French oak barriques, and before bottling is diluted with distilled water from 75% to 40% alcohol by volume, refrigerated for 48 hours at -6ºC and then filtered. Grappa di Sassicaia expresses the elegant, finely-structured fruit and herbal aromas, an elixir redolent of sweet spice and almond, where the intensity of spirit mellowed by the toast and vanilla nuances of the oak.
Sergei Gusovsky
The actuality of the Poli style, a refined balance of character and elegance, is due to a modern use of the ancient copper pot still, composed by steam cauldrons working at discontinuous cycle, among the very few still existing in
Italy.
The raw material from which Grappa is made is the grape pomace, the skin of the grape, and what is left after the grape is crushed in order to make wine. The area from where we gather the grape-pomace ranges from Bassano del Grappa to the hills surrounding Marostica and Breganze, lands historically famous for the cultivation of grape vines and for the production of Grappa.
We distill exclusively the freshest and soundest grape-pomace coming from the best wineries of our area, to obtain a Grappa distinguished by a refined balance of character and elegance because, as we often say: "The secret to distilling a great Grappa is simple: you just need fresh pomace and a hundred years of experience!"
The still of the Poli Distillery is among the oldest in use today. It consists of cauldrons completely made of copper, as in centuries gone by. Our distillation cycle is discontinuous. This means that we put the grape-pomace into the cauldrons and we distill it using steam; after about three hours we unload the cauldrons and the cycle begins again.
Since 1898 the Poli family is determined to continue a tradition and to make people understand and appreciate the hard work, the constancy but, above all, that kind of Love held in a bottle of Grappa.
Sell for its right weight
Giovanni was a man of great moral principles: he used to say "Vendi caro ma pesa giusto" meaning "Sell for its right weight". We are faithful to his motto still today
To choose
only fresh and
wholesome
raw material To distil
immediately
the raw
material To use
masterfully
our historic
still To work
with constancy
and passion To respect
the distillate
and the consumer
Every Grappa
has a different taste,
Every person
has a different taste.
The more the characteristics of the distillate
coincide with the preferences
of those who taste it,
the greater
the pleasure of tasting.
To favour the most appropriate choice, each of our distillates
has been placed in a
chart indicating the prevalent aromatic profile, combining the primary flavours: fruity, floral, herbaceous and spicy.
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