Traubenbrand Altes Eichenfass 2018

2018 was an excellent vintage. Kerner grapes from an old Sammet family vineyard in the ‘Swabian Tuscany’ were picked at the ideal ripeness, crushed with great-grandfather Sammet’s old hand-turned grape mill and fermented slowly and cool. The mash was distilled by distiller and spirits sommelier Martin Sammet in the copper pot still, the way his family has done it for generations; the heart of the run was brought down to cask strength with soft spring water from the Löwenstein hills and filled into an old wine cask. After several years it spent another ten months in an old sherry oak cask. The brandy is very mild, with notes of vanilla and chocolate from the old wine cask — the distillery’s choice to end a meal, or with a good cigar. 42 % vol, in 0.35-litre, 1-litre and 0.1-litre bottles.