Gareth Niblett, who moved to Estonia from Great Britain 12 years ago, has decided to revive his manor. He hopes to do so, like how many estates did in the past – through its own manor vodka production.
Wechmuth (Võhmuta) Manor in Tapa municipality got a new owner in 2005, when it was bought by Gareth Niblett, a British man working in cyber security. “I am not entirely English but have half German roots. So, buying an old knight’s manor was like a showing respect to my German heritage,” Niblett explained.
Four years after buying the manor, the man and his family moved to Estonia and still live in Võhmuta. The plan was to restore the manor and it started with the gatehouse. Unfortunately, they ended up with a builder whose work and activities were not satisfactory, and the quarrel was followed by a long court battle that took time, nerves and money.
“I won in court, but the builder has not yet compensated for the damage he has caused,” Niblett said.
However, the man is not the type to give up his big plan when he gets burned. The desire to restore the manor is still on the agenda. After restoring to its former glory, they want to keep it economically active. Gareth Niblett, an IT man who once studied chemistry, hopes to generate cash flow to bring all these plans to life.
“As a rule, manors operate in the tourism sector, but the production and sale of alcohol does not ask whether it is summer or winter outside and whether there are many or few visitors to the manor. We can do it all year round and it does not depend on the weather or the season,” he explained.
In search of historical truth
As always in Estonian manors, Wechmuth made its own spirits. Today, however, there is only a distant memory of it, reminiscent of the old ruins of its manor vodka distillery. Fortunately, the old practices of Estonian vodka production have not been completely forgotten. According to him, Gareth has collected a large amount of literature about the production of vodka during the manor era.
“There are some books written in the 1970s that talk about the original production of manor vodka in Estonia. It does not however describe the process in detail. The National Archives also has books and documents on vodka making. But for the most part, getting the necessary information was like looking for a piece of gold in the mud,” he said.
Still, the man remains completely honest, saying that the stories about the production of vodka according to recipes that are a few hundred years old are pure marketing nonsense, not reality.
“We are starting to use crops that were bred in the 1970s at the earliest. And the other raw materials are the same ones used by all modern vodka producers. Water can tell a story, although it’s probably a lot more filtered than it used to be,” he explained, adding: “I don’t like this kind of marketing story. I want to make a strong product first and then a strong brand, not the other way around.”
The goal is to produce the purest manor vodka. Achieving this starts at a stage that many modern artisanal vodka producers do not know – the production of their spirits.
According to Niblett, it is a common choice to buy alcohol from a large producer, but in order to make your own special vodka, you had to give up such an idea, because it is your alcohol that gives the vodka its characteristics. In terms of both taste and smell.
Only domestic raw materials
Grains (rye and wheat) are used as raw materials, in the future also potatoes, but multiple grains are never mixed, instead each one is made into its own vodka.
“I buy rye and wheat from Estonian farmers. It has grown here,” said Niblett. “No one else produces wheat vodka in Estonia. We make vodka that has its own characteristics and whose taste and aroma can be understood whether it is made from rye or wheat. This is completely different from mass-produced vodka. We use only natural ingredients to make our vodka, and we pursue the highest possible standard in the production of our spirits.”
Gareth explained that even in the production of alcohol, many processes are carried out in a fundamentally different way than by large producers. The distillation process is also much slower so that the spirit does not lose its characteristic taste.
“At every stage of our manor vodka production, we keep in mind that we can’t lose the taste of the grain. We do not grind the grain into flour but leave it in slightly larger grains. This makes it more difficult to make the vodka, because if the grain is not mixed in the pot properly, it can sink to the bottom and burn,” he described some of the differences from a large producer.
Vodka production started in June this year. By now, wheat vodka has been bottled, soon followed by rye vodka and gingerbread-flavoured liqueur. In the future, it is also planned to make potato vodka and several gins with typical Estonian flavours.
Crafts are expensive
Currently, you can buy the manor vodka from a small shop in the Wechmuth Manor gatehouse, although the bigger plan is to get a foot in the door of restaurants, bars and hotels.
“Initially, the idea was to export 80 percent of our production and leave 20 percent to the domestic market. We saw Germany, Scandinavia and Great Britain as export markets. But Brexit has made it harder to sell alcohol to England. So, we changed our goals and now target more local hotels, restaurants and bars that prefer a strong Estonian product over foreign brands,” commented Gareth Niblett.
It is clear that a product made by hand from beginning to end is not finished cheaply and you cannot see a low price on the vodka bottle from Wechmuth Manor. For example, a half-litre of wheat vodka costs 30 euros.
Translated by Manor Spirits, original article by Kristjan Ojang and published in Lääne-Virumaa Uudised.
Family-run independent organic spirits producer that marries craft with heritage. Distilling has taken place in Estonia since 1485. In 1765 Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia, granted Baltic-German nobles a monopoly on it. Manors in the region grew by making their own spirits in small batches. We continue this tradition.
