The shortage of potatoes during the 2015 harvest has been felt across the planet, including lower-than-average harvests in the UK, Western Europe and New Zealand. In Poland, a nation built on the back of the potato, the Institute of Agricultural Economics and Food Economy has announced that this year’s potato harvest will be down by as much as 1.5 million tonnes compared to 2014, a 20 percent decrease in production with the quality of the potatoes taking an additional blow. Perhaps the only other Polish food-stuff as iconic as the potato is its vodka, and at the Chopin Vodka distillery in Krzesk, near the town of Siedlce, nuzzled deep in the soil of Poland’s pristine Podlasie region, the two walk hand in hand.
Throughout much of history the potato has been associated with peasantry, synonymous with the hard-working, salt-of-the-earth values upon which society is built. It is only when the foundational elements of our societies come under threat that we begin to understand their true value. When honeybees began to disappear we quickly understood how much of our ecosystem depends upon pollinators. As our oceans bear the weight of over-fishing, pollution and climate change, tuna – once referred to as ‘the chicken of the sea’ – became a most treasured commodity. In similar fashion, disruptions in seasonal weather patterns have impacted crop production around the world, creating scarcity for many stalwart food staples, including ‘the humble potato’. For one company in Poland, the potato is the heart of its luxury artisanal products, and this scarcity has provided an opportunity to demonstrate that you can, in fact, polish a potato until it shines.
With a windfall of international awards that far exceeds its annual harvest of potatoes, it is widely accepted that Chopin Vodka is the most respected luxury, craft vodka in production. The original authors of the international luxury vodka sector, the Chopin distillery goes through painstaking lengths to ensure that every drop of its vodka reflects the characteristics of the Polish soil from which it is born, as well as the spirit of the farmers and craftsmen who toil within it. While other vodka producers might scramble to secure ever greater supplies of their ingredients in order to enlarge their production, the Chopin distillery in Poland has a different approach – if the potato harvest is shy on supply, it will simply produce less of its award-winning vodka. Chopin Vodka is distinctive in that it is one of only a few vodkas to be made from potatoes, a more traditional ingredient for making vodka; but if there is a shortage in potato supply, not to worry, they also make award-winning vodkas from rye and wheat.
Mr. Tadeusz Dorda, owner of Chopin Vodka, explains “We have a relationship with the local farmers who provide us with their potatoes; this relationship has been nurtured for decades; their harvests produce the foundation of our potato vodkas, providing us with the best potatoes in the world. We depend upon these farmers as they depend upon us, and we share an understanding of what quality of potatoes is required to make our vodkas. If they can only provide us with 60% of their normal harvest then we will produce 40% less vodka. This is the nature of terroir.”
The idea of changing fortunes with the annual fluctuations in the seasonal harvests is well understood in the wine and whisky industries, however, with vodka, where the spirit is commonly misconstrued as flavourless, terroir has traditionally been treated as less of a factor. In contrast, for Chopin Vodka the seasonal changes that alter the flavour of their annual products are the essential factors that distinguish them amidst the crowded luxury vodka sector. With much sought-after products such as the distillery’s SINGLE Young Potato ‘sipping vodka’ (a distillation that has achieved cult status amongst connoisseur vodka drinkers in Poland), where the spirit is only once distilled using seasonal young potatoes in order to preserve the flavour profile of the ingredients, the terroir qualities of the potatoes is paramount, altering the tasting notes of the vodka from year to year in the same manner as single malt whisky.
Although this year’s shortage of potatoes may be an obstacle for those few other distilleries that produce potato vodka, for Chopin Vodka it represents an opportunity to highlight the differing approach that it takes to its production. In a distillery that limits its production by the amount of local, top-quality potatoes that its farmers are able to harvest, the 2015 batch doesn’t represent a ‘shortage of production’ but instead the fullness of this year’s natural bounty. Perhaps the same factors that have limited the quantity of this year’s vodka will also produce a distinctive flavour profile that is coveted by connoisseurs. With ongoing explorations into barrel-aged vodka as well as other exciting pioneering directions in luxury craft distillations, only time will tell.
