Poli Distillerie

Solera di Famiglia 18-98

“Love drives away pain…” a person told us that March 21st 2001, when we hugged our dad for the last time. Now it was our turn to carry on, with the same enthusiasm he had.

We kept one of the 9 barriques of that Grappa he distilled, his last vintage, and since then we stored every year some batches made the way he used to like.

He loved Grappa from mixed-grape varieties of our land, long aged, strong and harmonious at the same time. To be honest, back then we didn’t share his style since we preferred the young elegance of the singlegrape varieties, but as we grew up we understood he was right.

Toni had asked us to produce 9 barrels every year, without ever revealing why he chose this number.

After a thousand conjectures, knowing how superstitious he was, we guessed the hidden meaning: 9 represents a cycle that ends and begins again, as well as the “sonship”. Perhaps it was his way of telling us: “Carry on, I will always be with you”.

Hence we decided to continue with his project, using the “solera” method, thus obtaining a Grappa that cherishes the memory of time.

Giampaolo, Jacopo, Barbara e Andrea Poli

The Solera Method

It’s an aging system that allows to merge in a harmonious blend different years as the time goes by.

The new vintage is introduced in the barriques located on the highest row in the aging cellar, while the Grappa to be bottled is taken from the row close to the soil (solera).

The solera row is never emptied completely, but just a part of it, which will be replaced by an equal amount of Grappa coming from the second row, which will be consequently fulfilled by the third row and so on, with a series of successive passages.

This way on the lowest row we obtain a blend of older and older vintages.

The 18-98 Family Solera was founded in 2001, keeping aside every year 7 barrels of Grappa until 2014, thus reaching 98 barriques dedicated to this product.

The youngest spirit that is gradually introduced in the family solera has a minimum aging of 18 months in barrique.

Since 2015 we created a blend of the various vintages, in order to obtain a Grappa featuring a unique and unmistakable style throughout the years.

Buona Grappa everyone!

Jacopo Poli