Schiavo

The historic Schiavo distillery is an artisanal grappa house headquartered just outside Vicenza in the grappa-rich northeastern Veneto. And under the direction of 5th-generation proprietor/distiller Marco Schiavo, it’s become so much more. Marco has taken Schiavo beyond grappa and into liqueur, aperitivo, and amaro production, producing only the top-of-the-line for the discerning drinkers who demand every ingredient be of the highest quality.

About a half hour from the iconic town of Bassano del Grappa, the village of Costabissara was where entrepreneur Domenico Schiavo began traveling from farm to farm with a mobile still, selling the resulting spirit to inns and wineries in the area. Domenico’s son, Giuseppe Schiavo, built the family’s first brick-and-morter distillery in 1887 (about 10 years before Jacopo Poli was founded), and down the family it has continued to Marco, who’s equipped them with a fleet of antique copper stills to produce a wide range of varietal and aged grappe, crafted from only the most recently pressed grapes.

Schiavo’s latest innovation, a “cocktail line” launched in 2013 called Gajàrdo, is designed to take aperitivo and cocktail culture to a new level, with bitters and liqueurs that prioritize the most sustainably sourced ingredients, thoughtful and innovative formulations and the most natural production methods.