Podole Wielkie Żyto 2023 is a vintage rye eau-de-vie from the Podole Wielkie farm distillery in Pomerania, bottled at 43% ABV in a premium tube version. The vintages of this brand are designated not by the year of distillation, but by the year the raw material was harvested. Podole Wielkie eaux-de-vie are vintage-dated with the harvest year of the grain from which they were made, which — much like terroir in winemaking — emphasises the specificity of the place, the variety of the raw material, and even the very field on which it grew.
The raw material comes from a single variety and a single field. The soil type is sand, the variety is Stannos, harvest 2023, field location "Babie C.", strength 43%, volume 700 ml, and the patron of this vintage is Ms Ewa Jaroszewicz, technological process operator at the distillery. The distillery operates according to the "from field to bottle" philosophy. The entire production process takes place in one location — from sowing the grain and planting the potatoes to hand-bottling and hand-labelling the bottles of the finished distillate.
Production is based on slow distillation and minimal intervention. The harvested raw materials are fermented and then distilled slowly, without haste, in a bulbous copper column; Podole Wielkie spirits contain no additives, are unfiltered, and the finished distillate is bottled and labelled by hand. All products are created in limited editions — each product is one year captured in a bottle.
The sensory profile is dominated by grain and nutty notes. This year's distillate is exceptionally intense, with pronounced nutty notes and a long, dry finish. The producer recommends tasting it with food. Eaux-de-vie are best enjoyed alongside a meal — from classic dishes such as steak tartare to more adventurous flavour discoveries.
Rye eau-de-vie holds a special place in the distillery's portfolio as the base for starka. Rye distillates have a magnificent history in the Polish distilling tradition — it is precisely rye eau-de-vie that is used to fill successive casks previously holding Hungarian wine from the Tokaj region, creating the historic starka.