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Vittorio Capovilla: Perfection of quality

Vittorio Capovilla typifies Italian distillation culture – with elegant fruit brandies and perfect grappa. Only the fresh marc of different grape varieties is used for the excellent grappa range and the raw materials for the fruit brandies are selected. Only 100% distillates (no gin or spirits) were produced until 15 years ago, when he began to distil rum. In the year 2018, Capovilla received the WSA‘s lifetime achievement award.

At the foot of Monte Grappa in the Venetian Maritime Alps, in the historical cellars of Villa Dolfin in Rosà near Bassano, stands the modern distillery of a quality fanatic – constructed according to a perfectionist’s design.

The number one Italian distiller is also an international star. Whilst still managing to keep his feet on the ground, ‘Gianni’ is still the same kind and charming, decent, nature-loving person who is full of passion and zest for life. In his philosophy, he is uncompromising and persistent, from the search for raw materials to the design of the bottles. The highest quality is still paramount where grappa and fruit distillates are concerned, which are always produced without ‘sugar refining’, and which have established a new understanding of quality in the phrase ‘Spirits made in Italy’.

The World Class Distillery 2022 OBB and World Class Distillery 2022 GRAPPA received gold for Grappa Amarone legno, Distillato di Amarene di Montagna, Distillato Bierbrand legno, Grappa Barolo, Grappa Traminer, Grappa Moscato Giallo, Grappa Moscato Rosa, Distillato di Vino Diesel Farm and Distillato di Mele Cotogne. Silver was awarded to Distillato Prunus Aurum, Distillato di Sorbo dell’Uccellatore, Grappa Bassano Centenario and Distillato di Vino Parusso.

Son Tinh – Tradition with a future

In 1993, ethnology student Markus Madeja travelled to Vietnam as a tourist – and he stayed. He went on to become a successful entrepreneur – with no start-up capital or bank loan, simply a convincing business idea. Today he has seven restaurants and a large distillery with more than 200 employees and a sales volume of 2 million dollars. Tradition is very important to him as are the Swiss virtues of quality and continuity.
His distilling started out on a small scale with 2 litre containers. His home was his production site. Following the opening of his first and second bars, the products began to gain in popularity and he decided to shift to a bigger scale. Today, the company has a modern distillery on the edge of Hanoi with a European level of technology. The secret to the schnapps: time to mature. They are produced according to Vietnamese recipes but marketed with western concepts and an innovative look: “The glass contains the soul of the schnapps but a pretty face sells it better!” The offer includes traditional herb schnapps with ginseng and other herbs and roots, sweet fruit liqueurs based on rice wine and a premium range with fruit distillates. The latter range will be expanded further in the future.
These schnapps varieties are unaffordable for the majority of the local population; a bottle costs around one tenth of the average monthly salary. However, the affluent young elite are benefiting from the economic boom and buying luxury goods. This luxury has brought about a renaissance for Madeja. He is now working with the farmers to further develop the traditional cultivation methods for the raw materials (e.g. rose apples) and the image of the products.
The World Spirits Award brought success for these exotic products: three golds for N?p Phú L?c (Phu Loc Sticky Rice Liquor), Minh Mang and B? Sa Pa.