Yours Friuli: The Bepi Tossolini Distillery

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I was recently lucky enough to win a flying two-day trip to the Bepi Tossolini Distillery in Friuli in the extreme North-East of Italy, off the back of a work competition to see who could sell the most limoncello. The distillery itself sits on the Eastern corner of the Po Valley with a vast shelf of mountains in the near distance. We were 50 km from Austria in the north and far closer to Slovenia to the east. The houses had a slightly Germanic look to them - and I think even the locals themselves would admit to having weird accents.

Bepi Tossolini's central significance in the pantheon of fine tipples is the distillation and production of Grappa. The Ancient Greeks called Italy "Vinotria" (meaning "land of wine") so it is appropriate that even the country’s main spirit is made from grapes. Grappa is a way of life in Northern Italy - a bracing, fresh spirit, where extended ageing is usually deemed unnecessary and its true essence comes straight from the fresh aromas of distilled grapes. Bepi Tossolini makes grappa not only with grapes from the surrounding vineyards in the foothills of the Alps but also from many of the other great grape varieties of Italy: moscato, prosecco, aglianico, nero d'avola and more - from Piemonte to Sicily.

Along with grappa (which is an acquired taste for the uninitiated) Bepi Tossolini makes liquours - such as a limoncello that is made from the essence of real lemons (shock horror!) and Amaretto made from genuine almonds (Lord, no!) It may sound ridiculous that this is not normally the case but it is true - the vast majority of Amaretto is made from apricot pits at best, or synthetic flavouring at worst. Apparently when distilled apricot pits taste uncannily like almond. Who knew!?

The factory - which was unassumingly bland from the outside - was a repository of varying styles of distilling pots which all had various uses depending on which particular style of liquour or spirit was being made. Old and new, big and small they were all wonderful examples of Italian industry; everything had a pretty look, well-cared for and much loved. I have not experienced visiting the factories where big-label brands are made - but apparently the distillers are gigantic by comparison. What Bepi Tossolini have is an artisanal touch - a rural family business for three generations.

This is the paragraph where I would have bored you with my new-found intimate knowledge of the technical side of the fermenting and distilling process of making fine spirits in Italy. However - I don't know whether it was large amount of ambiant noise making it hard to listen as we were being shown around inside the distillery, or maybe it was the uncannily comfy warmth, but I was in a particularly sleepy mood and was generally happy looking at the pretty copper pipes and hoping I could sneak a look on wikipedia at some point to work out what I had just seen.

As is all to common in the drinks trade, the serious tasting happened well before noon the following morning, when all but the most die-hard alcoholics struggle to get excited about what they are tasting. We were professionals though - and made our way through sixteen different drinks: various grappas (the strongest of which was 50% alcohol), plus liquors of the pre- and post-prandial variety.

After that we all said goodbye to Lisa Tossolini, our elegant and vivacious hostess, and were whisked back to the airport in the middle of nowhere (thanks, Ryanair) and left Italy 23 hours after we had arrived. We came, we saw, we tasted.

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