Distillery Visit – Ortler Hofbrennerei
During our second summer vacation this year, we went to the wine and fruit growing region of South Tyrol. Besides vinyards, I also wanted to visit an eau de vie distillery which I had on my list for a long time. Alexander Ortler’s spirits won very high ratings in the Falstaff Spirits Trophy.
Alexander’s distillery is located in Eppan at the South Tyrol Wine Route. It started out in the garage of Alexander’s farm and organically grew into the whole ground floor being occupied by the distillery. Through his main profession, being a fruit merchant, Alexander has access to the best raw material for his spirits.
Traditionall distillation
Apart from that, he ferments his fruits with temperature control and distils the fruit twice on a Mueller pot-still. However, only the first run is done during the season. The second time takes place in January when there is not much else to do. After distilling, all spirits age for four years, first in larger vats and then in the bottle. Alexander also has a barrel storage with the barrels belonging to his children. This is where he ages an exclusive apple brandy. All of Alexander’s spirits are bottled additive and sugar free.
The taste
We started the tasting with the apricot eau de vie, which I absolutely loved. Alexander gets only the ripest and highest quality of fruits from the Vinschgau. You taste typical apricot jam flavours without any stone-notes. Next, I tried the plum eau de vie which also had intense and typical notes. Alexander mentioned that this is perfect after coffee and I can see why. The quince eau de vie had a lot of honey in the aroma with the classic perfumed note.
Grape marc, strawberries and wine yeast
The Lagrein grappa was very delicate for a grape marc spirit and I can imagine this being a great choice after dinner. Yet, the strawberry eau de vie distilled from mashed berries only, was probably the best of its kind I tasted so far. You could taste this pure strawberry flavour with notes of strawberry jam without any burning alcohol on the palate. Last but not least, I tried the wine yeast spirit. Alexander distilled this rarity from the yeast of a 100 € a bottle wine. On top of that, the spirit has an ABV of 50 %. Certainly, this spirit is only meant for proper eau de vie nerds. Obviously, I loved it!
Exclusive edition
Lastly, I was able to try the Delia Solera barrel aged apple brandy. It delivered a great balance between apple and oak notes. In the beginning, I almost was reminded of an acacia barrel aged spirit.
Worth a visit
All in all, the Ortler farm distillery really is a hidden gem in South Tyrol and surely worth a visit. Alexander also plans to build a tasting room next. Finally, I would liked to thank him for taking the time and showing me around as well as doing the tasting of his great products with me!
*The fact that I received a product reviewed in this article for free, did not – in any way – influence the rating of said product. The tasting was provided for free by Alexander Ortler.
