The Distillery

The month of November, when the wine harvest season has just finished, marks the start of one of the company’s busiest periods: distillation. The distillery buys the pomace of fresh and fermented grapes from thirty or so bodegas with Toro, Ribera and Rueda Denominations of Origin and the Vino de los Valles de Benavente quality distinction. It is essential to gather them quickly and transport them carefully in order to avoid their deterioration. This is the raw material that Panizo distils in its traditional copper boilers in order to extract the eau de vie that serves as the base for its orujo liqueurs.

The distillation is carried out by a low pressure steam method. Each boiler produces 20 litres of eau de vie with an alcohol content of approximately 60%. Only the core or the centre of each distillation batch will become the base for the different varieties of Panizo Orujo. There are continuous quality controls throughout the entire process.