Our Interview
Mario, Marcello and Giorgio, owners of Liquorificio del Piave, or Distilleria Fratelli Pellegrini, tell us about the past and present of their renowned artisanal distillery, a pearl of our Region founded in Nervesa della Battaglia during World War II.
In this interview, in addition to revealing fascinating and unpublished aspects of the company’s history, they will tell us about some of the most recent and exquisite creations of their liquor distillery.
Could you tell us about the birth of your splendid artisanal distillery?
Liquorificio del Piave snc was born from the intuition of our grandfather Ruggero Pellegrini who, a great enthusiast of liqueurs and distillates, decided in far-off 1943, in the midst of war, to found his company. With over ten years of experience gained as director of the Distillerie Meneghetti in Treviso, he decided to set out on this path alone, founding and growing his own business. From the very beginning, the name Liquorificio del Piave has been recognized by consumers as a synonym for quality and care in the production of fine alcoholic beverages.
How has this great passion been passed down through the generations?
Today the company is run by the third generation of the Pellegrini family, with the same care as always in the choice of raw materials to guarantee the high quality of the products, and with the enthusiasm to constantly innovate the range of flavors offered and to open up to new markets.
One of the aspects that distinguishes your business is the value placed on creativity, on conceiving original and high-quality artisanal products while at the same time enhancing the soul and roots of your distillery. How complex is it to find and maintain a balance between innovation and tradition?
During its over seventy years of history, in order to always offer products of high and consistent quality, the company has maintained maximum commitment in the care and selection of raw materials, also guaranteed by consolidated ten-year relationships with some suppliers. Great attention is also paid to processing methods, which combine traditions and artisanal recipes with innovative equipment, as well as to market trends, adapting and updating the product offering, which always receives positive feedback from customers.
Liquorificio del Piave distributes not only in some niche retail outlets, but mainly in the large organized distribution sector, which has allowed the widespread diffusion of its products throughout the Triveneto region. The strong collaboration with this channel has led the company in recent years to improve its production standards, particularly those related to production and delivery times.
This positive result has also been achieved because the company, small and family-run, demonstrates great flexibility and ability to adapt its production potential to the needs of highly organized and important markets.
Today Liquorificio del Piave is a dynamic and active reality, combining respect for the tradition and recipes of its founder with the development of new products and new markets: passion and innovation that together will lead the company to future successes.
How does the creative process and design of new recipes take place?
In the creation and conception of new products, various aspects are taken into consideration:
- Firstly, trends in tastes and choices by customers; a constant eye on market trends and attention to customers allows us to make and develop targeted and much more precise choices.
- Once the type of product to be developed has been identified, the old manuals and recipe books in our possession are consulted to try to adapt the most traditional recipes to today’s tastes, thus maintaining the inseparable link with tradition that has always distinguished us.
- Packaging and labels are personally designed by us, following and maintaining the style that has distinguished our name for years.
Given the remarkable aromatic quality of your liqueurs, grappas, and syrups, I imagine that the passion for botany is decisive, especially regarding the plants of our territory.
Certainly, the bond and continuous consultation of botanical manuals (recipe books and books) and consolidated experience inextricably link us to our territory, rich in herbs and botanical essences always used in the preparation of any recipe, from cooking to liqueur making.
Liquorificio del Piave was born during one of the most significant phases in the history of our country. In addition to the precious heritage related to the production of first-choice distillates, did Ruggero Pellegrini leave you many testimonies regarding the period of the foundation and the early years of activity of the Distilleria del Piave?
Certainly, one of the most significant and best explanatory anecdotes of the period that concerns those difficult and contradictory years relates precisely to the activity that our grandfather found himself doing during the years of the German occupation. Given the logistically favorable position (in the early years the site was located in the Dus area of Nervesa, near the railway station), one of the jobs that Liquorificio del Piave did (willingly or unwillingly) was to bottle on behalf of the Germans large quantities of cognac from France and vodka from the East, which arrived in barrels by train. During the war years, it was difficult to find glass bottles because almost all glassworks were closed or in reduced production, so they often bottled with “recovered glass”, that is, using and recovering bottles from everywhere; so much so that we still have in the company many very particular bottles packaged in those years, of rum or cognac: for example, many beer bottles were reused.
What, in your opinion, would be an ideal occasion to taste Barba Gin? Does your new creation lend itself well to mixing?
This new product has particular citrus notes and a very delicate perfume; it was conceived and made trying to maintain this characteristic note in order to be used excellently in the creation and composition of any cocktail, avoiding flavors and scents too intense that could make the preparation of the cocktail difficult. In short, an optimal ingredient that will allow everyone, renowned bartenders and even DIY enthusiasts, to let their creativity run wild.
Do you think that the new generations are able to grasp the value of refinement and quality of local products, like those you produce, despite the fierce competition from large brands of alcoholic beverages that dominate internationally?
Nowadays, the customers of this particular niche sector, like ours, are becoming increasingly informed and selective. This obviously benefits small realities like ours, where we tend to enhance and maintain the characteristic quality that is essential for us.
What advice would you give to a young person who today wants to undertake the path to become a master liqueur maker one day?
The useful characteristic to undertake this path is certainly patience and the curiosity to delve into very particular topics and subjects. There is a need for a very open mind and above all the willingness and ability to adapt to any type of task the company requires. In fact, within our company there are many individual assignments but they all intersect with each other and together carry out the work with a common goal. You need to have a lot of passion and a great spirit of adaptability is necessary.
We know that you have several new products in the pipeline, including a gin with a very nice name, would you like to tell us about it?
Our latest creation is, as already mentioned, Barba Gin, but we still have several novelties in preparation, including an herbal liqueur that our grandfather already produced, and which we would like to reintroduce in a renewed version. We are also building a new website with the intention of opening up to e-commerce markets. So in the coming months there will certainly be new developments. Thank you for the opportunity you gave us to talk about our story and the latest news.
Mario, Marcello and Giorgio
