Nardini

The oldest distillery in Italy and the world’s oldest grappa producer, Nardini was established in 1779 by Bortolo Nardini and is still run by his descendants. Over generations, the brand has been at the forefront of innovations within the grappa world, such as implementing vacuum distillation, ageing grappa in oak barrels, and combining distillate from two different distilleries (a bit like single malt and grain Scotch). There’s a site in Monastier near Treviso and another in its old hometown of Bassano del grappa, where the former uses continuous column distillation to produce a purer more neutral distillate, while the latter operates batch distillation to create a bolder spirit, which is then blended together. Nardini produces 2 million litres per year in its Bassano del Grappa site, which also features a unique main office designed in 2004 for the 225th anniversary by the architect Massimiliano Fuksas, consisting of a structure of glass bubbles supported by steel.