Hacienda la Caravedo is the oldest pisco distillery in Peru and perhaps the oldest working distillery in the western hemisphere. Located in the Ica valley, the center of the Peruvian pisco industry, it dates back to 1684 and comprises a large estate with its own vineyards and a landmarked orange-stucco colonial-style great house. After some ups and downs in the early and mid-twentieth century, under the direction of the Peruvian-born but Napa Valley–trained Rodrigo Peschiera Mifflin, who bought the estate with his father in the mid-1990s, the estate was rededicated to producing pisco in the most traditional style, with modern biodynamic touches. Fortunately, it still had its falcas, the indigenous style of pot still, and they were still wood-fired and set in the traditional gravity-fed system whereby grapes were pressed at the top of a hill, fermented a little lower down, and distilled near the bottom. See falca.
In 2010, the Peschieras sold the property to William Kallop, a Texas oilman, his son Brent, and Johnny Schuler, a Bolivian-born Lima restaurateur and pisco and wine expert (he was a founding member of the National Tasters Guild of Peru). The new owners built a second distillery, across the courtyard from the old falcas, featuring modern steam-jacketed alembics (later they also added a suite of Charentais-style cognac stills elsewhere on the property). With this large capacity and Schuler as master distiller, Pisco Portón, their new brand, was able to offer a wide range of high-quality piscos, including the rare mosto verde, and became an award winner and an export leader, selling pisco even in Chile. See pisco.
Dicum, Gregory. The Pisco Book. San Francisco: ClearGrape, 2011.
English, Camper. “A Visit to La Caravedo.” Alcademics, January 6, 2015. https://www.alcademics.com/2015/01/a-visit-to-la-caravedo-home-of-pisco-porton-in-ica-peru-.html (accessed May 3, 2021).
By: David Wondrich