Hello everyone welcome my name is Liam Skandra I’m senior business development Manager for spirits in the Europe Middle East and Africa region at WSET Um it’s a pleasure to welcome you to This webinar uh the WSET for those that Don’t know is the world’s leading Provider of wine spirits and psychic Qualifications uh qualifications are Designed to inspire and Empower anyone Looking to develop their drinks Knowledge from beginners to experts and From enthusiastic professionals Pisco the the topic of today’s webinar Is covered in wsct levels two and three In spirits and it’s a category that I Love Um very unique in many senses and uh Complex intents Um with a real pure uh and and Interesting expression of fruit and Floral Aromas that underpins by some Real unique variables by some Distinctive production features which I Think will be really interesting to Explore over the course of the next 20 To 30 minutes so it’s my pleasure to Welcome Diego Loretta Muller who’s uh Who’s with me today who’s going to be Presenting Over the next 20 minutes or so and Sharing his wealth of knowledge probably The man most responsible from promoting Peruvian Pisco globally and taking it to
More markets than anybody else in the World so Without further Ado I’ll pass over to Diego I will remind everybody as well That um this will be available via YouTube after the recording’s finished And if you have any questions during the Uh during the session then please put Them in the Q a box at the bottom Diego Liam how are you I’m well sir how are You Thank you very much for giving me the Opportunity to come and share a little Bit of my passion with such a great Audience I hear there’s about 260 uh People in this audience and I’m sure Everybody is very well uh interested in Pisco not only because they want to hear From me but actually because they love The whole atmosphere around it so thank You everybody for being present today From wherever you are in the world it’s A pleasure for me to to be here and to Talk about Pisco what we call the liquid Diamond the essence of Peru and I’m Gonna do my best to be able to summarize In 20 minutes Uh a spirit that has more 140 years 100 450 years of existence in the world and Um it’s been through everything you know Politically tradition culture uh all Sorts of different uh scenarios over This time and unfortunately disappeared From the world uh for three decades the
70s 80s and 90s but uh we are so happy That in the last 20 years uh it’s become A category again that is growing Beautifully every year more people are Getting uh aware of the experience in it And more countries in the world are are Trying it out Um so without further Ado when we think Of Pisco inevitably we have to uh think Of wine and thing think of grapes and Their behavior depending on terar Depending on climate depending on what Part of the world you know they come From or what region within a with an Ideal is no different to that but how Did Pisco come about then we have to go Back to history The first grades were brought to Peru in 1539 we know that Hernan Cortes did his Job in 19 in 1520 bringing the grapes Into Central America but by 1532 Francisco Pizarro had already reached The country where today is Peru uh which Was the land of Inc as it I want to Ensue you that was the focus of the Crown to be able to govern the richest Part of the new Americas which at the Time was the Inca Empire And if you see at the beginning you know Uh when the first uh colonies were Segregated and moved and put together You know Charles V had this idea of Putting them in in bands and uh if you See the Nova Castilla ban was that area
Where uh most of the uh Inc Empire lied Over time in 1542 we’ve had a more Consolidated area which was the this is The royalty of Peru which continued with That shape and changing a little bit Geographically depending on the Political movements until the 1800s Right before independence and there’s a Common denominator in those maps and What was going on at the time and that I Point out is the port of Peace Corps the Port of Pisco at the time came the best Entry for the conquerors to be able to Reach with their ships to the coast and Be able to find a pathway through the Andes into Cusco because Cusco was the Capital of the ink Empire and they Needed to control it so all of a sudden You start seeing a lot of traffic going North south uh the magayan strait wasn’t Used uh uh because it was very very Risky uh at the time but the path was You know from Panama from the Central America area to Peru through the court Of Peace go into Cusco and that Developed a lot of Commerce which Eventually you know brought a lot of Development in the area and when the Spanish arrived to this Bay which was Perfectly set up you know shallow and Had this opening with the valley of Pisco going up the mountains into Um um the pathway to Cusco they realized That a perar was amazing for British
Culture and even though the first grapes Were planted in 1539 in Lima by 1542 we Had a tremendous amount of Grace being Planted in the Pisco area and the Further south they moved looking for That extra additional pathway into Cusco They found that the terror and the land South of Lima into Pisco into Ika and All the way down to the end of Where the talent in suyo uh uh property Of the egus the kingdom of Incas ended Up with the viscerality of Peru who’s Perfect for growing grapes so that Became inevitably a land that was Essential for Vineyard and viticulture Um grapes were not native from uh the Americas they were brought by the Spaniards as well as the distillation uh Concept so Um everything started here in this land Of Pisco and why was it called Pisco Because Pisco was a word that in the Quechua language meant bird who is the Land of the bird and today you can still Find in the area of reserved government Uh preserve for the Um seabird Wildlife called parakas if You ever have a chance to go down to Peru take the time it’s really beautiful And gives you great perspective and that Piscos piscos piscuits uh phonetically Sounded like Pisco in Spanish and Therefore they baptized the area as a Land of Pisco and obviously the river
The valley a report on the territory was Named after this bird and you can see Even in the pre-columbian Um Cultures before they arrived the piscu Was well represented in their ceramic in Their tapestries in many of the Um antiques that we have found there are 15 or more years a hundred years old Um even the Amphora the concept of the amphra was Brought also by the Spanish it was an Arab concept that came with the Moors And it was used for transferring liquids And there were different shapes but this Particular shape was used for fermenting First wine Then you wash them enough for Distillation the distillate was kept in This arm for us the at the beginning the Spaniards did not bring casks to each Product and they used this ceramic Vats To hold it and rest the product as well As to transport it to the different Areas along the Pacific and what they Should be found was that the product Really evolved it did not need wood to Soften the product evolve itself and Actually Expressed a lot better the fruit that it Became from because there was not only One type of trade there were several Types of grapes and each one expressed Its own characteristics after a while
And this Um uh ceramic uh amphora eventually took The name of the Pisco amphora so it was A ceramic uh jar that was made in the Area of Pisco most of the Kilns were There and in the ICA Valley which is Only just uh 40 kilometer South and These these these ampharas got to be Known as the ampharas of Pisco the Botija of prisco to the extent that Commercially uh who never ordered a Pisco would order it uh just by its name Would you bring me a Pisco five gallons Go of 10 15 in 16 20 gallons so over a Period of time this Brandy that was Distilled in the area of Pisco took the Name of the area you no longer call Brandi of konia you call it cognac same Thing happened here Brandy of Pisco Became Pisco the amphora was the vessel In which he was transported in so call It a piece code means bring me an Amphora of physical and of course the Port of Pisco was the main Port where it Was exported from that’s where we start With defining that the Brandy has a Denomination of origin and that Denomination of origin was adopted by The area where most of this wine was Um produced so starting with Lima and Going south to Pisco Pisco sits within The state of Ika and from there there’s Another three states And that is where the denomination of
Origin the designation of the region Um for Pisco is now in scripted in the Rules and regulations of how we make it And where we make it the deal demands That the grapes have to come from the Area the product has to be produced in The area and bottled in the area before It can be shut down you cannot make bulk Peas gone and bottle it somewhere else You cannot make this brand the outside Of the deal and model it in Cusco or the North of the Jungle it will only be Called Brandy otherwise has to be from The PO And those are the five regions the five Regions are coastal areas uh south of Lima and the deal calls for up to 2 000 Meters above sea level above that then It will be called Brandy so you have to Maintain all the process of production Within that region the original grapes Were the missionary grapes uh and they Were brought by the Spaniards that Wanted to conquer the the Visa royalty Of of of the room uh the talenting Incas In the name of God the sacramental wine So the the original wines were ones that Were very rich in sugars so that uh you Could fortify the wines you know Church Wine and eventually those wines became Uh part of the distillation process Specifically in the mid 1600s around 1641 42 when Philip II banned the Exportation of any wines coming from the
Newfoundland to the old continent and Therefore in order to preserve it uh Distillation was intensified so it Started as part of her you know Customary distilling process or you know Custom of doing Brandy and then he Become intensified and became commercial To me Pisco was the first commercial Spirit of the Americas And we have the grace the greats of the Original greats uh we we qualify them as Less aromatic and more aromatic the Original Graves were the neighbor creoya And then we are we confine DNA ascending Back to Spain which you can find it uh Uh uh clearly as grapes that were grown There picked up uh somewhere along the Way of holy Canary Islands you know uh And then brought into uh the research Organ field Planted along the way but this Um Called Mission grid you can find you Know similar grapes in Southern California Mexico Central America it Might be called trioya chip in Argentina It might be called paisin in Chile uh After the missionaries really you know Complemented you know going to every Part of the territory in their Colonization period but these two graves Actually found great there were home in The southern Coastal area of Peru and The hybrid of crossing the memorial
Neighbor Is really a native grave of Peru you Can’t track the DNA back into you know The lineage of of grapes into Spain or Europe so therefore we’re very proud to Say that the cabranta is a native hybrid That developed in Ika in the state of Ika we have five valleys you know Chincha disco where everything started Ika which is the longest Valley in the Whole position in the whole Coastal area Of Peru and then you have palpa Nazca All of them are great regions you know For growing um all sorts of Agriculture But specifically for very culture is is Just a great place uh to grow grapes and The uvina it’s a small uh uh grape Actually was in part of this Brandy Production uh era until probably in the Late uh 80s and 90s before that it was uh uh uh Agree pretty much like a Cabernet Franc Used to add a color and and depth to uh Wines but during the the crisis and Through this Valley Um developed you know the Brandy call it Pisco and eventually was incorporated as The last great to be part of a less Aromatic Grace in the Pisco category The more aromatic griefs actually came To Peru with the Italian migration Pretty much end of the 1700s beginning Of the 1800s and uh they are descendants Of of muscat grapes there’s many many
Muscat uh style grapes but we received Uh in Peru primarily the Muscat of Alexandria which we called Italia the Muscatovianco which is Toronto uh and in Some parts of Italia Toronto and then The Muscatel Rosso that we call the Moscato Rosso which most likely it’s a Descendant of the muscatello from Hamburg Albia is still a Spanish grape That came from Castilla La Mancha and Was also part of the light you know more Uh aromatic and and fruity Um grapes So when you think peace go and you think Graves uh the beauty of it is that we Can make eight different varietals of Pisco because each one of these graves Will have different Aromas and flavors Textures they’ll Express themselves in Different ways and because in in Pisco Uh regulations we cannot manipulate the Wines in any direction but the natural Direction of what the grid will produce The beauty of Isco is a is a very unique Experience a hundred percent made from Graves where no additives come into play So we cannot have any Um yeasts that are not the natural Native use from the Greek Um we cannot add enzymes or you know any Type of acid in order to you know Balance and manipulate the wine into the Final product and finally it gets Distilled well the product is still
Young so once we have a young wine Recently fermented that’s what goes into The Copper Pot which has to be of a Specific type that I’ll talk a little Bit later and uh then we distill you Know uh uh the product wants you know Cutting head and Tails and the final Product goes to rest and when we bottle It we do not dilute it with water and Bring it to proof so the the proof that Which it comes out of the alarm deck is The final proof that eventually will go Into the bottle that makes it to to be a Very very unique spirit and uh that’s What I call it a liquid Diamond because Unlike other spirits that are Transparent and see-through Pisco has This brilliancy that actually is brought By the natural alcohol being Concentrated and the additional water That is extracted directly from the wine That is made from during the process and You know one of the biggest Qualifications of the Pisco is that you Have to be that you have to look at that Brilliancy as you see it into the light Could be transparent you know like many Others but this one shines While others Don’t shine as much The different Aromas and flavors of These of these grapes is what is making Disco today be noticed not only the Pisco that we use to make a piece of Sour or a punch but actually these
Aromatics that actually is stimulating Part Thunder’s creativity to go and try Different Um uh Super Creative cocktails to Um show the different great Aromas Florality scrutiness uh softness you Know textures you know some of these Grapes may be a little you know more Viscous some of them are going to be a Little lighter and that’s what makes This category so so much fun When we made peace go we can make it From these eight grapes but we Classified in three types Something that we call Puro which Basically is from fully fermented musts So you know you’re crushing the grape You get juice as the juice ferments you Know and creates alcohol from the sugar Becomes a must so you go juice moss and Finally when all the sugar is converted Into alcohol it’s wine that wine you Know recently fermented is what we Distilled so poodle you have to go Through the whole process and Finally obtain a y that will range Anywhere between 11 and a half and 13 Alcohol depending on the amount of Alcohol that you harvest your straighten Your grapes at and therefore you can Have eight types of biscopuru We have something else called muscle Verdict green must green alluding and The the Mast is not ripe so right must
Will be wine right all the alcohol Converted into uh all the sugar Converted into alcohol when we talk About green means it’s at the beginning Of this process and therefore you have a Lot of residual sugar you have a lot of Fruitiness because the grapes were Recently crushed and when you distill This Texture the expression of a role Mass Are completely different than the or or Put it this way are more intensified Than the regular plural it’s a it’s a Really great experience most of others Tend to be smooth soft uh most of areas Have these incredible finishing a lot of You know uh Elegance to their Finish Well the purus Tend to be a little more robust a little Fuller Um you would do shaking cocktails with a Poodle those fear cocktails where They’re mostover in Peru we tend to Drink both straight to pregnant or what Kind of molecule you enjoy more with Your pistol And finally we have our Blends so Actually means Blended which means that It’s a blend of two or more grape Varietals there’s no rule to it Basically every Master blender will use The grapes that they feel you know they Can handle better and make their own Achilados so you can have a Naturals on
An axolotl of muscle virus Here’s a good example of how you might Perceive you know many Brands presenting Their products you know color coding has Helped people identify a little bit Better sometimes you won’t remember per Granta or talentel or Italian but you Might you know remember the color coding You know for it and uh the color codings Sometimes repeat themselves on the Mostover so if you can see you do have The cabranta and the monster Verde Cabranta Italian Toronto uh in the center you have a Natural the actualado is a Naturals so It is the Um blending of uh three of these pores As a matter of fact you know like a Granta Italian Most likely you’re you’ll see that Um a substantial portion of an enchilada Will always be a base of cabranta Um is not as much for the uh price uh Which the character tends to be the Lower because it’s the most abundant uh Uh piece of great produced in Peru I Would say I venture to say pearl is Around you know like 88 85 percent of of All pistols will be prevented but also Because the the peranta uh being not as Complex as the more romantic ones gives A very good structure and base for them Put you know some of the aromatics on Top and give it a little you know stir
Them in in a certain manner uh sometimes You know if the actuality is too Perfumey Um it will be you know much closer to Having a poodle aromatical Foreign The production process Is pretty straightforward and simple you Know Um but What happens in Peru is we have to be Perfect at doing it why because we have No chance to correct an error what do I Mean by that it means that the product Runs its natural course when we Harvest You know which is the first part of the Process Those Braves the moment that you are you Know putting them in the in the Crates I’m bringing them to the Reception and Crush already start Semi-starting their fermentation Um the in the crush they open up oxygen Is exposed to the juice and the Fermentation starts because of the uh Dirt that is around the skins of the Grave so we use the native Um Yeast of the Grave that are in the in The skins of the grape to ferment so we Crush them uh we remove the the Stents so we can stem it and then the Mass which would be the skins that pulp The juice with a grape you know
Including seeds will go into maceration Tanks where they will spend together Maybe Um 12 to 24 hours before the skin Separate from the juice the juice is Then pumped into the fermentation tanks And whatever is left of Pulp sky is Brought to a Pneumatic press that is Gently pressed and the last uh part of The of juice is recovered normally in Our case we would separate it because it Would have a little bit more tannic acid And therefore we like to make that piece Go separately it’s not a lot it’s about Two percent uh of the whole Crush but if We talk about the traditional way of of Making Pisco where you stomp on the Grapes and um and Italian are very very You know old traditional uh artisanal Manner Um it’s a little bit different you know It’s a little more inefficient when you Step on the grave you probably you know Are really stumping hard on that stem That stem you know normally will bring a Little bit of you know sap into the game Which is a little bit bitter you’re Probably crushing all the seeds and and The skins of the graves which actually Add a little bit of organic acid that’s What all peace go tend to be a little Bit rougher you know it was a little bit Stronger nowadays you know with the Development of uh great wine making
Equipment Pisco has improved its quality Over the last 20 years because we are Using even though maintaining or Artisanal tradition you know better uh Equipment to handle the grape and Actually make a better wine so once you Know the the the grapes have been Removed and the juice has naturally Fermented that natural wine is Immediately Passed onto the alarm the Atlantic has To be Specifically of Sharon’s style so we do Incorporate that alambic that cognac Uses with a wine warmer you know the the The pot the capital onion shaped uh uh Top of the swan neck uh shape and that By law has to be all copper so every Part of that alambic that the vapors you Know of the alcohol evaporated and then Condensed have to be copper so the Spiral inside the chiller will be copper Chiller doesn’t have to be copper Because it’s not in touch with the Product but any part that will be in Touch with the product has to be made of Copper Normally you know our Harvest will start In end of January in some places at the Peak in February and then March April Sometimes it can be carried into May Depending on the on the summer and um we Pick up our grapes at very very high Sugars uh compared to many other
Brandies in the world the sugars are Normally measured in bricks or you know Gourmet degrees in bricks they range Around 23 to 26 bricks which is quite High compared to other brandies that um You know I picked up at 8 9 10 11 12 Bricks and therefore those need double Distillations in our case because we Made our wines you know with such high Sugar content grapes the wines pair high Levels of alcohol and that allows us to Just do one single distillation we do a Batch process everybody is single Distilled because of the high level of Alcohol in the wine he permits us to Actually obtain a reasonable volume of Spirit with alcohol that will range Anywhere between 38 and 48 by law Most of of the pieces that you’ll find Are available will range probably Between 41 and 43 Um and and basically distilled to battle Proof our mission is as a wine maker we Like to grab those grapes you know taste Them you know really Appreciate that beautiful fragrance Flavor and then we want to transfer and Concentrate those organellective Properties into those wines naturally And then those wines you know we want to Concentrate alcohols flavors and Aromas Into the final distillate that we are Producing so basically if I want to give You a little range when we make you know
A plural piece code we will probably you Know uh use anywhere between five and a Half six kilos of grapes to about seven Or eight Um in essence four to five bottles of Wine make one bottle of piece coat when We make the uh most of Verde The Partially fermented uh uh must peace Code It’s a different ball game because Instead of spending maybe 15 to 25 days Fermenting Um those piscos were then maybe a couple Days two or three days maximum uh so There’s a lot of sugar remaining maybe There’s some alcohol anywhere between Six eight percent uh and then Immediately well it’s still fermented we Send them to the Copper Pot apply heat Which stops the fermentation and then we Distill so the yield is a little bit Different And therefore the equivalent would be Maybe 10 12 sometimes 14 bottles of wine Of these partially fermented wine to the Same bottle of Pisco so you know that Equate that we’re going to be using Probably somewhere around 10 12 kilos of Of grapes or more Uh and that creates a completely Sublime Different delicious bisco so every time That we’re making our pizza we’re Thinking where are we what are we going To do with it what would be the purpose
Of it how do we want it to be consumed Uh because one thing is we want a great Quality product and the other is what Are they going to do with it and how do We you know motivate the the person Consuming it or the bartender Transformative into a cocktail you know Uh what to achieve so we’re very very Receptive about you know listening to You know creativity and what bartenders Are going to do so that we can really You know calibrate uh the the quality of The bridge that we are using for misco Finally peace goes Rest by law the Minimum resting time is three months Three months in inert fats so by America Would be stainless steel would be cement Would be clay uh glass or uh until now Um a food grade polyethylene uh uh tanks Are still permitted although pretty soon It seems like the the norm will change And and prevent us from using those Yeah So what something has been going on with Disco Lady and why are we hearing so Much about it and the truth is uh It’s been hit in the mark finally it’s a Category that uh has reached you know The most used Spirits you know of 2021 Peace good number 10 and it’s being Consumed tremendously barely in the last Few years as a result of the pandemic I Think that the pandemic gave people the Chance to go and explore and and review
And if you can see the growth of Physical organically in dollars was About 12 before pandemic and it was like 13 you know 14 in liters or cases uh the Last two years has been crazy it’s been You know 68 in in Dollars and 75 in liters which gives us You know the the message that peace goes Back peacek is a category peaceful is Getting into every you know great bar And is only represented by the best bars In the world Kellen has that now you Know the Pisco Sour is a number 20 you Know the top 50 cocktails on the fiscal Punch which is the first cocktail ever Made with peaceful in the mid 1800s in San Francisco actually is on position 50. so for us you know after these long Pilgrimage you know spreading the the Peaceful gospel we’re starting to see Recognition on those cocktails and There’s many more cocktails that are Being you know uh recognized at Chicano Which is you know Um basically a a buck you know with Peaceful lime juice and ginger ale a Little bit of bitters one of the Classics actually has now surpassed the Consumption uh uh of Pisco in this Cocktail over the viscose hour in Peru Amazing and they’ll Capitan you know Another gray cocktail which is equal Parts of vermouth and Pisco both of them You know
Um descending from Italian customs they Arrived you know the consumption of These uh cocktails in the early 1900s uh Late 1800s you know when the Italians Arrived and today tonic I mean tonic has Grown so much that there’s nothing Easier than making a Pisco tonic we call It TNT attorney very refreshing and very Easy to consume but this is the future The future is contemporary cocktails and As more bartenders uh are discovering You know the great versatility of Pisco The great variety of all these physical You know made from different grapes you Know uh I can see the future of Pisco Being great it’s basically a natural Product the grape is the only ingredient There’s no manipulation but the honest You know process and and vigilance of a Master when they’re really trying to Achieve putting into the spirit the best Quality of the grapes that he has Harvested and the bartenders you know We’re going to thank them all because This creativity is only giving peaceful Great opportunity to Keep on growing And with that I hope that uh my 20 Minutes you know are up I think they Were up a long time ago Um I definitely want to see you in Peru And uh my house is open to yours you Know every time you want to show up I’ll Be there for four months you’re in the
Harvest so if you can make it down there I’ll be glad to be with you thank you Thank you Diego and thank you everyone Watching um we’ve had some amazing Questions coming in Diego both in the Chat and in the Q a which I’ve addressed A great deal of and you’ve answered Quite a few of them regards to best ways To drink bisco in those final few slides There so I think um with that we can we Can wrap up and I can ask everybody to Give us some feedback in the poll or Thank Yeager and thank everybody for for Joining us just as a reminder this will Be available via the WSET event Hub on Our YouTube channel so please check it Out there and uh Diego and I have Already joked that we can probably do Another five or six sessions on the Unique history of Peruvian bisco so Watch this space for part two coming Soon Foreign
