Grappa remises Romano Levi 2005 "Donna selvativa" rare RRR

LA STORIA

La storia della distilleria Levi è tanto semplice quantoaffascinante: ebbe inizio quando Levi Serafino la fondò in Neive nel 1925, ma ildestino purtroppo lo fece mancare molto presto, già nel 1933 lasciando lamoglie e due figli, Lidia e Romano (che ai tempi aveva solo 5 anni). La mogliedi Serafino decise coraggiosamente dicontinuare lattività del marito chepassò nel 1945 nelle mani del figlio appena diciassettenne. Come lostesso Romano dichiara in unintervista : "...Poi è andata bene che la mia mammala distilleria la ha tenuta e non la ha venduta; e nel 1945 sono rimasto io solocon mia sorella Lidia. Cosa fare, altri lavori? Non sapevo di preciso. Qui cerala distilleria, bisognava distillare. Ma se cera la parte bella: il fuoco, labrace, la vinaccia che arrivava, quella roba lì dal colore allegro, altra cosaera fare la grappa. Per fortuna, sbagliando si impara. Comunque trattandosi diqualcosa che si fa per ripetizione, parliamo di qualcosa che vive, la variazionesi presenta di continuo. Infatti il contenuto di ogni bottiglia non èuguale a quello di una bottiglia venuta dopo. Ogni bottiglia è unindividuo irripetibile, comè individuo a sé chi la prepara: quella che stavicino al legno e quella che gli sta meno vicino, dentro alla botte...e tutto unlavoro così...". Continuò così la strada intrapresa dai genitori in manieraegregia e tuttora la sua grappa sgorga dallalambicco nel periodo che va daSettembre ad Aprile di ogni anno.

Questa grappa per volere di Romano Levi è prodotta con ilmetodo antico, con il fuoco diretto sulla caldaia di rame allinterno dellaquale si trovano vinacce ed acqua. Tutta lattrezzatura per la produzione èquella originale di inizio secolo con solo pochi indispensabili ammodernamenti.Altra particolarità della produzione è il solo utilizzo di vinacce esaustedellannata precedente seccate e pressate per fare fuoco sotto la caldaia dirame nelle distillazioni dellanno successivo.

Tutto profuma di storia e di poesia in questa "fabbrica" di altritempi, impossibile venire in Langa e non dedicare almeno una visita ad unpersonaggio tanto speciale.

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HISTORY

In the heart of the Langhe, near Alba (CN), you reach the lands of Barbaresco and Moscato; in this area is the town of Neive dominated by the ancient tower of the medieval castle and the ancient village. Coming from the lower part of the town and following the main road that crosses it, you may happen to come across an old house with a garden bordered by an equally ancient gate. Here lives and distills his angelic grappa Romano Levi, a shy and introverted character but of great creative flair. As evidence of this "wildness" you will not find anything written on his doorbell and not even a sign indicating the presence of his distillery, his laboratory is remises discovered and visited only by those who already know his history as an artist distiller and want to meet him. ... this is to say that it is absolutely impossible to happen in this shop by chance.

In the courtyard of his house, nervous tourists and collectors of all European and non-European nationalities stroll, hoping that it will be the right day to get their hands on one or the other label designed by Levis hand; often fate does not smile to these grappa lovers who will be forced to return to Neive on another occasion to grab the object of their desire.

Given the very limited production as mentioned often you will not be able to take Levis grappa home but you will never be denied a warm hospitality, a complete visit to the distillery with lots of explanations provided directly by his valid helpers and a tasting of his grappa .

The history of the Levi distillery is as simple as it is fascinating: it began when Levi Serafino founded it in Neive in 1925, but unfortunately fate made him miss it very soon, already in 1933 leaving his wife and two children, Lidia and Romano (who at the time was only 5 years old). Serafinos wife bravely decided to continue her husbands business which passed into the hands of her son just seventeen in 1945. As Romano himself declares in an interview: "... Then it went well that my mother kept the distillery and didnt sell it; and in 1945 I was left alone with my sister Lidia. What to do, other jobs "I didnt know exactly. Here was the distillery, it was necessary to distill. But if there was the good part: the fire, the embers, the pomace that arrived, that cheerful colored stuff there, it was another thing to make grappa." Fortunately, one learns by making mistakes. However, since it is something that is done by repetition, we are talking about something that lives, the variation occurs continuously. In fact, the content of each bottle is not the same as that of a bottle that comes later. Each bottle is an unrepeatable individual, as the person who prepares it is individual to himself: the one that is close to the wood and the one that is less close to him, inside the barrel ... and all such work ... ". He thus continued the path taken by his parents in an excellent way and still his grappa flows from the alembic in the period from September to April of each year.

In the early sixties, however, he wanted to differentiate his production from those of competitors by customizing the bottles one by one with labels he designed or dedicated with poems like a true artist of life. The first bottles with handwritten labels date back to 1963, since then his a particular choice has led him over time to have the fame and esteem of the eccentric artist that he is, proof of this is the nickname given to him by Veronelli: "Il Grappaiolo Angelico".

To date these labels are sought and collected all over the world, in particular the most valuable are those that carry the allegory of the "wild woman".

This grappa at the behest of Romano Levi is produced with the ancient method, with direct fire on the copper boiler inside which there are pomace and water. All the production equipment is the original one from the beginning of the century with only a few essential modernizations. Another peculiarity of the production is the sole use of exhausted marc of the previous year, dried and pressed to make fire under the copper boiler in the distillations of the following year.

Everything smells of history and poetry in this "factory" of other times, it is impossible to come to Langa and not dedicate at least one visit to such a special person.

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