bagaçeira , or aguardente bagaçeira, is a grape-based marc made in Portugal that is distilled to no higher than 86 percent and bottled at no less than 37.5 percent ABV (and rarely exceeding 54 percent). No flavoring or additional alcohol can be added. Bagaçeira can be found as both an artisanal spirit and a large-scale industrial distillate, with varying methods of distillation employed, from small pot stills to large column stills. Raw materials may vary among both red and white grapes, as well as the amount of distillate retained (rather than that which is set aside for disposal or redistillation); indeed, distillers sometimes use fully fermented wine (generally called aguardente vinica), leftover grape pomace after fermentation, and a limited amount of spent lees, though bagaçeira is intended to be made from pomace, or bagaço. See marc and pomace brandy.
The EU provides for demarcated regional bagaçeira under its 2008 regulations. These include Aguardente Bagaçeira Bairrada, Aguardente Bagaçeira Alentejo, Aguardente Bagaçeira da Região dos Vinhos Verdes, and Aguardente Bagaçeira da Região dos Vinhos Verdes de Alvarinho (made solely from the alvarinho grape variety).
In Portugal, bagaçeira is viewed as a common and even rustic product (indeed, the word can be used to connote something poor or substandard), but that does not preclude some producers from making very skillful and lovely bagaçeira spirits. Increasingly, as with grappa in Italy, high-quality wine producers are participating, and some, such as Herdade de Mouchão, make single variety bagaçeira. Some producers will age the spirit in used oak and sell the resulting brandy as a more rarefied product called bagaçeira velha (or even velhissima).
Additionally, licor de bagaceira is a grape beverage that is made sweet (often through the addition of grape-based spirit to interrupt the fermentation process) and bottled at 18–54 percent ABV.
See also aguardiente, and grappa.
Regulation (EC) no 110/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 January 2008. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=celex%3A32008R0110 (accessed January 29, 2021).
By: Doug Frost