Originally a poor Italian man’s drink, grappa originated as a way of capturing every drop of fermentable sugar left in the precious grapes after winemaking. For centuries, grappa helped numb the pain of hard toil and subsistence living, while also supplying additional calories to help overcome the work and cold.

Exactly when grappa was first distilled is not known but distillation originated in the Middle East during the 8th century, moving to Europe in the Middle Ages (1100s) through the Moors and their rule of Sicily. It is thought that Italian Benedictine monks in Salerno used their newly acquired distilling knowledge to preserve medicinal plants by infusing them in alcohol.

There is written evidence dating to the mid-14th century placing its origins in the foothills of the Italian Alps and the Northern regions of Trentino-Alto Adige and Val d’Aosta. By the end of the 15th century grappa production was licenced with taxes levied on the production of distillates from wine and pomace.

The early distillers made spirits by heating wine, hence the emergence of the word ‘brandy’ from the term ‘burnt wine’. It was not until the 16th century that distilling from mash made from grain was mastered. As grappa is made from the residue of skins, pips and stalks (pomace or vinace) left after grapes have been pressed to make wine it’s probable that grappa predates grain based distillates such as whisk(e)y, vodka, genever and gin.

Grappa was only delineated as a style of product in the early 18th century with the distinction being made between distillates made from grapes rather than other types of fruit. Nardini, Italy’s oldest grappa producer, started production in Bassano del Grappa in 1779 when Bortolo Nardini established his inn and distillery at the eastern entrance of the wooden covered Bassano bridge, on the Brenta river bank.

The word grappa comes from the Latin word ‘grappapolis’ meaning ‘bunch of grapes’, but the colloquial term ‘grappa’ only became official in 1951 after the spirit was awarded denomination. When Nardini established his business in 1779, some 172 years earlier, he used the term ‘aquavite di vinaccia’, literally ‘water-of-life from grape pomaces’, and in Italy this phrase still appears on Nardini’s Italian labels. (The brand uses ‘grappa’ on its export labels.)