In Glurns in the Upper Vinschgau valley, the first and only whisky distillery on Italian soil has been visible from afar since 2010. PUNI is the name of the company, whose brick-red chequerboard walls rise in the immediate vicinity of the medieval town walls of Glurns. The 13-metre-high cube of the distillery is a successful example of contemporary architecture from the hand of South Tyrolean architect Werner Tscholl.
The PUNI whisky distillery
PUNI is more than just Italy's first whisky distillery. In Glurns, the distillery does not imitate the Scottish art of distilling and aesthetics, but instead creates a total work of art that combines quality and vision, pleasure and aesthetics, tradition and innovation, Scotland and South Tyrol.
The PUNI distillery offers various whiskeys that are stored in different oak barrels. In addition to American bourbon barrels, Spanish sherry barrels and Sicilian Marsala barrels are currently used to store the Italian Puni whisky.In 2015, after just over three years of maturation, the first Italian whisky was bottled - The Italian Malt Whisky.
The raw materials
The PUNI location is strategically well thought out, as the cube is situated in the middle of the South Tyrolean "highlands" of the Ortler region, in the valleys of the former granary of Tyrol. So it seems only logical that the whisky pioneers use the purest Vinschgau glacier water and Vinschgau grain to produce the high-proof drops. Since 2015, the Puni distillery has been offering Italian Malt Whisky, which is not only a copy of the Scottish original, but also incorporates the terroir of South Tyrol and Italy.