Lord of the Manor Making Vodka to Restore Estate

Gareth Niblett, the owner of Wechmuth (Võhmuta) Manor in Tapa municipality with an English-German background, has started making vodka according to old manor customs in order to repair the dilapidated manor with earned income.

There is no active vodka distillery in the manor, because the ancient building has fallen apart, as has the main building of the manor. However, a powerful gatehouse has survived, which is unique in Estonia. It is considered a monument to the Russo-French War of 1812. The owner lives in a house belonging to the manor complex next to the gatehouse which they made habitable. “We thought we’d get the manor in order in twenty years, but it seems that it will take a lot longer,” Gareth said. “Our own 200 years.”

E-Estonia seemed exciting

When Gareth’s family had their first child in 2004, it was decided that she shouldn’t grow up in the UK. In the same year, nine countries joined the European Union, including Estonia. Legislation from different countries was compared. Estonia and the Czech Republic remained on the table, but Estonia’s advantage was that the ownership relations were firmly in place. When you bought real estate here, you got both land and buildings at the same time. Elsewhere, the land and the building may have had different owners, and this predicted great confusion.

The Estonian e-government project was very interesting for Gareth, because he worked in the field of cyber security. In addition, Gareth’s mother has a German background. He had visited Germany and seen the manors there. But it is expensive to live in Germany. He had studied the history of the Baltic Germans related to Estonia, which attracted him.

In 2009, the family moved here. Two years earlier, the family had a second child and a third was born in Rakvere two months after arrival. A year earlier, the global financial crisis had begun, and Gareth made less money than he expected from selling his home. They moved with their young children to a foreign country where there were no friends and the local language sounded foreign. “You have a very difficult language,” Gareth admitted. He understands and speaks for himself, but still prefers to communicate in English. However, he put the children in the local kindergarten and school, and their language skills are now the same as those of the locals.

Võhmuta Manor

Võhmuta Manor (German: Wechmuth) was built in the second half of the 17th century. Prior to the dispossession in 1919, the manor belonged to the Manteuffel family. Võhmuta is one of the most stylish classicist small manors in Estonia. Probably dating from the second half of the 18th century, the wooden one-storey baroque main building was rebuilt into a classicist building with a flat tin roof in the early 19th century. A separate attraction is the gatehouse.

Source: Tapa Museum

Võhmuta is not as powerful a manor complex as Palmse or Vihula that are also in Lääne-Virumaa. But Gareth is happy to have a smaller knight’s manor. The complex has six buildings and a park. There are fields all around. “I like the separation,” he said. Gareth has heard that it is enough for an Estonian if the nearest neighbour lives close enough that his chimney smoke is visible. “That suits me,” he said. When Gareth looks out the window, he sees a snow-white field, a black forest and a blue sky. “I see the Estonian flag through my window,” he said. His hometown Hull is as big as Tallinn. “There is noise in the city,” he added.

The distances in Estonia are, of course, different than Gareth is used to. He said that he could take the children to have fun in Tallinn, that is a hundred kilometres from his home. “I used to drive the same distance to work every day,” he recalled. The production equipment for making vodka are located in a modern building on the edge of Lasnamäe in Tallinn. There are good conditions, clean rooms, good water and ventilation. Gareth stays there a few days per week.

The jury was pleasantly surprised

When the jury gathered last autumn to choose the best organic drink in Estonia, not much was expected from the vodka produced under the brand name Manor Spirits, which is made of winter wheat. Strong alcohol had been tasted before and then shrugged off. But this time the tasters were surprised. This vodka was delicious. Even the gentler sex admitted it. Chef Angelica Udeküll generally does not respect vodka, but this product had a pleasant taste even for her.

All in all, the vodka won third place in the competition, which is extraordinary in the history of the competition for strong alcohol. The reasoning was also about environmentally friendly packaging. The bottle is reusable, the labels are non-laminated cotton paper, the caps are recycled cork, and the cellulose-based biodegradable cork covers.

“We’re making vodka that’s good, the best in Estonia,” Gareth said, admitting that it does not come easily. “I would earn more from a consulting business.” It would be easier to buy organic alcohol from the nearby Moe factory, as others do, but he wants to keep the whole production cycle under his own control. “Otherwise, it wouldn’t be craft.”

The first product arrived in bottles last summer. Preparation took a whole year. “I didn’t settle until I was happy with the result,” Gareth said. According to him, he is a perfectionist due to his German background.

But while the original idea was that he produced 80 percent of its vodka for export, the current reality due to the pandemic it is the opposite. He had to find a local market. That’s what he works for every day. Vodka can be bought from the manor on site, but also from several restaurants. There would be even more potential customers if the restaurants weren’t having such a difficult time right now.

Gareth considers the product itself to be more important than the brand. “Many spend millions on a brand, but there is no product,” he said. He certainly doesn’t want to do anything that can be done in any store. “Making vodka is a process,” he said. It is made in small batches from grain to glass. The grain is coarsely ground to achieve maximum character. It is then fermented and distilled. The best part of the spirit is diluted with softened water. There is no sugar or other additives, and the product is not filtered. “All kinds of talk about silver filters and other great technology is nonsense,” Gareth said. The grain comes from Lauri-Jaani farm in Lääne County.

With a production method such as in the manor’s vodka distilleries, the product retains the natural properties of the grain. The taste of the main raw material can be characterized as follows: it gives fineness, softness, fruitiness. He describes the entire production cycle in detail, the process of making vodka is quite long, as it also consists of letting the product rest. The goal is always the best result, taste and smell. “Vodka must be able to be drunk cleanly and I want clean flavours. For example, winter wheat tastes sweeter,” Gareth confirmed.

He also chooses Sangaste rye vodka, and before Christmas he made a spicy liqueur. But he also has a secret wish. According to the custom of old Estonian manors, he promises to experiment with making vodka from potato. Also he hasn’t buried his dream of moving to the main house of the manor and restart making vodka in the former distillery next to it.

Commentary

We are looking for drinks from exciting small producers in our restaurant, which are rarely or not available at all in stores and which are different from ordinary products. The products of local producers are also very important in order to still promote Estonia. Manor Spirits contacted us, and we decided to give it a try. The guests welcomed it and praised the softness and freshness.

Tiina Kõresoo, the hostess of restaurant Salt

Translated by Manor Spirits, original article by Tiit Efert and published in Maa Elu (Postimees).