Founded in 1870, Distilleria Gualco has been a family run enterprise for 4 generations. The system for producing the Distilleria Gualcos grappa is a bain-marie pot still. Using a bain-marie or water bath means that the pot of the grape pomace is not heated directly by fire but its surrounded by another pot of boiling water and heated to evaporation. This has the advantage of heating the grapes gently, preventing the grappa from taking on an unpleasant smoky or burnt taste and allows it to slowly evaporate, thus retaining the wine-like characteristics of the grape skins. The fuel to heat the stills is the very same expended grape skins used to produce the grappa itself. Semigasogeni Autarchici (Self-sufficient fuels) and the combustible used is the same grape-skins which have already been used to produce the grappa.