ABOUT

DISTILLERIA MARZADRO

This historic grappa distillery can do it all, and do it well.

In the US, only a handful of grappa distilleries have any name recognition. In Italy, meanwhile, grappa culture is much more diffuse and localized. Although most of the best distilleries are clustered in the north, grappa production is as regionally diverse as wine—and yet, for all the choices in this most “Italian” of spirits categories, certain names ring out no matter where you are: Marzadro is one such name.

Founded in 1949 in the village of Nogaredo, in the southern part of Trentino near Lake Garda, Marzadro was the brainchild of Sabina Marzadro and her brother, Attilio. Sabina spent many years in Rome, working in the home of a local politician, but, upon returning home to Nogaredo, she decided to go in an entrepreneurial direction. She had an alembic still fabricated by a local coppersmith and installed it in the family home, welcoming local vintners to bring their pomace to be distilled. Attilio filled his Guzzi motorcycle's sidecar with bottles and went out to Rovereto, Trento, and beyond to sell them.

From those humble beginnings has sprung a beautifully appointed modern distillery of impressive dimensions. Marzadro is now one of Italy's leading distilled spirits producers, operating out of a striking facility completed in 2004. Designed by Bolzano-based architects Walter Maurmayr and Günther Plaickner, the distillery's centerpiece is a battery of eight copper stills, which are arranged in a circle under a skylit dome. These bain-marie style stills are almost always in operation, especially from September through December, when they're running 24 hours a day. Over in the dramatic, vaulted bottaia (barrel room), rows of barrels hold grappas and other spirits in various stages of evolution.

But it wasn't just the distillery, and its surroundings, that blew us away: It was the innovative and impeccable array of products Marzadro produces. Their “Crema Alpina” range—an assortment of sumptuous cream liqueurs in flavors such as Pistachio, Hazelnut, and Lemon—is poised to be a sensation in the US (let's put it this way: if two hardcore wine geeks can be seduced by them, anyone can). As you'll see, Marzadro really can do it all. This Italian legend is ready for its star turn in the US!