![Four bottles of vermouth](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Four_bottles_of_vermouth.jpg)
Vermouth (, )
is an
aromatized
Aromatization is a chemical reaction in which an aromaticity, aromatic system is formed from a single nonaromatic precursor. Typically aromatization is achieved by dehydrogenation of existing cyclic compounds, illustrated by the conversion of cycl ...
fortified wine
Fortified wine is a wine to which a distilled spirit, usually brandy, has been added. In the course of some centuries, winemakers have developed many different styles of fortified wine, including port, sherry, madeira, Marsala, Commanda ...
, flavoured with various
botanicals
Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...
(
root
In vascular plants, the roots are the organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often below the sur ...
s,
barks Barks may refer to:
* Carl Barks (1901 – 2000) was an American cartoonist, author, and painter
* Coleman Barks (b. 1937), an American poet, and former literature faculty at the University of Georgia
* Samantha Barks (b. 1990), a Manx actress and ...
,
flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...
s,
seed
A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...
s,
herb
In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal ...
s, and
spice
A spice is a seed, fruit, root, bark, or other plant substance primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices are distinguished from herbs, which are the leaves, flowers, or stems of plants used for flavoring or as a garnish. Spices a ...
s) and sometimes colored. The modern versions of the beverage were first produced in the mid- to late 18th century in
Turin
Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...
, Italy. While vermouth was traditionally used for medicinal purposes, it was later served as an
apéritif, with fashionable cafés in Turin serving it to guests around the clock. In the late 19th century, it became popular with bartenders as a key ingredient for
cocktail
A cocktail is an alcoholic mixed drink. Most commonly, cocktails are either a combination of spirits, or one or more spirits mixed with other ingredients such as tonic water, fruit juice, flavored syrup, or cream. Cocktails vary widely across ...
s,
such as the
martini
Martini may refer to:
* Martini (cocktail)
* Martini (vermouth), a brand of vermouth
* Martini (surname), an Italian surname
* Martini (automobile company), a Swiss automobile company
* Automobiles Martini, a French manufacturer of racing cars
* M ...
, the
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
, the
Rob Roy, and the
Negroni
A Negroni is an Italian cocktail, made of one part gin, one part vermouth rosso (red, semi-sweet) and one part Campari, garnished with orange peel. It is considered an apéritif.
A traditionally made Negroni is stirred, not shaken; it is buil ...
. In addition to being consumed as an apéritif or cocktail ingredient, vermouth is sometimes used as an alternative to
white wine
White wine is a wine that is Fermentation in winemaking, fermented without skin contact. The wine color, colour can be straw-yellow, yellow-green, or yellow-gold. It is produced by the alcoholic fermentation of the non-coloured Juice vesicles, ...
in
cooking
Cooking, cookery, or culinary arts is the art, science and craft of using heat to Outline of food preparation, prepare food for consumption. Cooking techniques and ingredients vary widely, from grilling food over an open fire to using electric ...
.
Historically, there have been two main types of vermouth: sweet and dry.
Responding to demand and competition, vermouth manufacturers have created additional styles, including extra-dry white, sweet white (blanc or bianco), red (rosso), amber (ambre), and rosé.
Vermouth is produced by starting with a base of a neutral grape
wine
Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...
or unfermented wine
must
Must (from the Latin ''vinum mustum'', "young wine") is freshly crushed fruit juice (usually grape juice) that contains the skins, seeds, and stems of the fruit. The solid portion of the must is called pomace and typically makes up 7–23% of t ...
. Each manufacturer adds additional
alcohol
Alcohol most commonly refers to:
* Alcohol (chemistry), an organic compound in which a hydroxyl group is bound to a carbon atom
* Alcohol (drug), an intoxicant found in alcoholic drinks
Alcohol may also refer to:
Chemicals
* Ethanol, one of sev ...
and a proprietary mixture of dry ingredients, consisting of
aromatic herb
An essential oil is a concentrated hydrophobic liquid containing Volatility (chemistry), volatile (easily evaporated at normal temperatures) chemical compounds from plants. Essential oils are also known as volatile oils, ethereal oils, aetherol ...
s,
root
In vascular plants, the roots are the organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often below the sur ...
s, and
barks, to the base wine, base wine plus spirit, or spirit only – which may be redistilled before adding to the wine or unfermented wine must. After the wine is aromatized and fortified, the vermouth is sweetened with either cane sugar or caramelized sugar, depending on the style.
Italian and French companies produce most of the vermouth consumed throughout the world.
Etymology and history
![Vermouth Bottles](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/Vermouth_Bottles.jpg)
Consumption of wines fortified with herbs or roots is believed to have begun in China at least as early as the
Shang
The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty founded by Tang of Shang (Cheng Tang) that ruled in the Yellow River valley in the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and f ...
and
Western Zhou
The Western Zhou ( zh, c=, p=Xīzhōu; c. 1045 BC – 771 BC) was a royal dynasty of China and the first half of the Zhou dynasty. It began when King Wu of Zhou overthrew the Shang dynasty at the Battle of Muye and ended when the Quanrong noma ...
dynasties (1250–1000 BC).
The extra ingredients were added to wine to make it a medicinal drink. Medicinal drinks made by alcoholic fermentation of herbs and sugars are mentioned in early Indian texts on medicine, though this does not imply that European vermouths originated from ancient Chinese and Indian drinks. Recipes for infusing white wine date back to
ancient Greece
Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cult ...
from around 400 BC. A popular ingredient was
wormwood, based on the belief that it was effective at treating stomach disorders and
intestinal parasite
An intestinal parasite infection is a condition in which a parasite infects the gastro-intestinal tract of humans and other animals. Such parasites can live anywhere in the body, but most prefer the intestinal wall.
Routes of exposure and infe ...
s.
It was commonly used in Hungary at least since the 15th century with different species of artemisia plant like mugwort or wormwood and other spices like mustard seeds, horseradish, elfdock etc. Wormwood is called "üröm" or "irem" in Hungarian hence the drink is called "ürmös" (wormwoodish) or
ürmösbor (wormwoodish wine). In the 16th century it was used with imported spices too like cinnamon, clove etc. It was well known for healing stomach and digesting problems.
The name "vermouth" is the French pronunciation of the
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
word ''Wermut'' for wormwood that has been used as an ingredient in the drink over its history. Fortified wines containing wormwood as a principal ingredient existed in
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
around the 16th century. At about this time an Italian merchant named D'Alessio began producing a similar product in
Piedmont
it, Piemontese
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as a "wormwood wine". D'Alessio's version of the libation contained other botanical ingredients in addition to wormwood. Competing brands developed shortly thereafter in eastern and southeastern France, containing their own proprietary mix of ingredients, including herbs, roots, bark and spices.
By the mid-17th century, the drink was being consumed in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
under the name "vermouth" which has been the common name for the beverage until the present day.
Over time, two distinct versions of vermouth became established, one pale, dry, and bitter, and the other red and sweeter. Merchant
Antonio Benedetto Carpano
Antonio Benedetto Carpano (1764, Bioglio (Biella) - 1815, Turin) was an Italian distiller, famous for having invented vermouth and consequently the apéritif.
In 1786, Antonio Benedetto Carpano invented modern Vermouth in Turin, made from white ...
introduced the first sweet vermouth in 1786 in
Turin
Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...
, Italy. The drink reportedly quickly became popular with the
royal court of Turin.
[ Around 1800 to 1813, the first pale, dry vermouth was produced in France by Joseph Noilly.] However, not all pale vermouths produced over time have been dry, and not all red vermouths have been sweet.
The use of vermouth as a medicinal liquor waned by the end of the 18th century, but its use as an apéritif increased in Italy and France. By the late 19th century, vermouth was being used in cocktails. Bartenders found that it was an ideal mixer for many cocktails, including the Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
(beginning around 1880) and the precursors to the martini
Martini may refer to:
* Martini (cocktail)
* Martini (vermouth), a brand of vermouth
* Martini (surname), an Italian surname
* Martini (automobile company), a Swiss automobile company
* Automobiles Martini, a French manufacturer of racing cars
* M ...
. In addition, the popular Vermouth cocktail, first appearing in 1868, consisted of chilled vermouth and a twist of lemon peel with the occasional addition of small amounts of bitters
Bitters (plural also ''bitters'') is traditionally an alcoholic preparation flavored with botanical matter for a bitter or bittersweet flavor. Originally, numerous longstanding brands of bitters were developed as patent medicines, but now are ...
or maraschino
Maraschino ( , ) is a liqueur obtained from the distillation of Marasca cherries. The small, slightly sour fruit of the Tapiwa cherry tree ( ''Prunus cerasus'' var. ''marasca''), which grows wild along parts of the Dalmatian coast in Croatia, le ...
. The popularity of vermouth-heavy cocktails in America, often using twice as much vermouth as gin or whiskey, continued through the 1880s and 1890s. Although the amount of vermouth used in cocktail recipes had somewhat declined, it has recently been experiencing a rise as a favorite among a new breed of bartenders, as a key ingredient in many cocktails. Vermouth gained popularity in the 1950s with help from the martini, which was being marketed by liquor companies. Product placement and celebrity endorsements from personalities such as Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century fic ...
and Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart (; December 25, 1899 – January 14, 1957), nicknamed Bogie, was an American film and stage actor. His performances in Classical Hollywood cinema films made him an American cultural icon. In 1999, the American Film In ...
helped to increase the martini's profile. However, the most successful advertiser of the martini was the fictional character James Bond
The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...
.
The popularity of vermouth in the United States and Great Britain declined after the mid-20th century, but was still used in those countries in many classic cocktails such as the Manhattan, albeit in smaller amounts. The drink is more popular in other parts of Europe (such as Italy, France and Spain, where it is often consumed by itself as an apéritif).
In the years since 2013, there has been renewed interest in vermouth in the US. Artisanal makers have created new brands of vermouth which do not seek to imitate European styles, and vermouth has been a fast-growing category within the wine trade.
Production, ingredients, and flavours
Several wine grapes, including Clairette blanche
Clairette blanche is a white wine grape variety most widely grown in the wine regions of Provence wine, Provence, Rhône (wine region), Rhône and Languedoc wine, Languedoc in France. At the end of the 1990s, there were of Clairette blanche g ...
, Piquepoul
Piquepoul, Picpoul, or Picapoll is a variety of wine grape grown primarily in the Rhone Valley and Languedoc regions of France as well as Catalonia, Spain. It exists both in dark-skinned (Piquepoul noir) and light-skinned (Piquepoul blanc) v ...
, Bianchetta Trevigiana
Bianchetta Trevigiana is a white Italian wine grape variety that is grown in the Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol (wine), Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol and Veneto wine regions of northeast Italy. Here the grape is rarely used a varietal but, instead ...
, Catarratto
Catarratto is a white Italian wine grape planted primarily in Sicily where it is the most widely planted grape. Catarratto can make full bodied wines with lemon notes.J. Robinson: ''Jancis Robinson's Wine Course'' Third Edition, p. 101. Abbevill ...
and Trebbiano
Trebbiano is an Italian wine grape, one of the most widely planted grape varieties in the world. It gives good yields, but tends to yield undistinguished wine. It can be fresh and fruity, but does not keep long. Also known as ugni blanc, it h ...
, are generally used as the base ingredients for vermouths. From these grapes, a low-alcohol white wine
White wine is a wine that is Fermentation in winemaking, fermented without skin contact. The wine color, colour can be straw-yellow, yellow-green, or yellow-gold. It is produced by the alcoholic fermentation of the non-coloured Juice vesicles, ...
is produced by vermouth manufacturers. The wine may be aged for a short while before the addition of other ingredients. For sweet vermouths, sugar syrup
Inverted sugar syrup, also called invert syrup, invert sugar, simple syrup, sugar syrup, sugar water, bar syrup, syrup USP, or sucrose inversion, is a syrup mixture of the monosaccharides glucose and fructose, that is made by hydrolytic sacch ...
is added before the wine is fortified with extra alcohol. The added alcohol is usually a neutral grape spirit
A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus ''Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters.
The cultivation of grapes began perhaps 8,000 years ago, ...
, but may also come from vegetable sources such as sugar beet
A sugar beet is a plant whose root contains a high concentration of sucrose and which is grown commercially for sugar production. In plant breeding, it is known as the Altissima cultivar group of the common beet (''Beta vulgaris''). Together wi ...
s. The wine is then placed in large barrels or tanks to which the dry ingredients have already been added. The mixture is stirred at intervals until the dry ingredients have been absorbed and the drink is ready for bottling. Red vermouths can derive their color from botanicals, added red wine, or sometimes from caramel color
Caramel color or caramel coloring is a water-soluble food coloring. It is made by heat treatment of carbohydrates (sugars), in general in the presence of acids, alkalis, or salts, in a process called caramelization. It is more fully oxidized than ...
. Rose-colored vermouth uses red and white wines as its base. Most vermouths are bottled at between 16% and 18% ABV
Alcohol by volume (abbreviated as ABV, abv, or alc/vol) is a standard measure of how much alcohol (ethanol) is contained in a given volume of an alcoholic beverage (expressed as a volume percent). It is defined as the number of millilitres (mL) o ...
, as compared with the 9–14% ABV of most unfortified wines.
Spice ingredients often used in vermouths include clove
Cloves are the aromatic flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae, ''Syzygium aromaticum'' (). They are native to the Maluku Islands (or Moluccas) in Indonesia, and are commonly used as a spice, flavoring or fragrance in consumer products, ...
s, cinnamon
Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several tree species from the genus ''Cinnamomum''. Cinnamon is used mainly as an aromatic condiment and flavouring additive in a wide variety of cuisines, sweet and savoury dishes, breakfa ...
, quinine
Quinine is a medication used to treat malaria and babesiosis. This includes the treatment of malaria due to ''Plasmodium falciparum'' that is resistant to chloroquine when artesunate is not available. While sometimes used for nocturnal leg cr ...
, citrus peel
Peel, also known as rind or skin, is the outer protective layer of a fruit or vegetable which can be peeled off. The rind is usually the botanical exocarp, but the term exocarp also includes the hard cases of nuts, which are not named peels si ...
, cardamom
Cardamom (), sometimes cardamon or cardamum, is a spice made from the seeds of several plants in the genera ''Elettaria'' and ''Amomum'' in the family Zingiberaceae. Both genera are native to the Indian subcontinent and Indonesia. They are rec ...
, marjoram
Marjoram (; ''Origanum majorana'') is a cold-sensitive perennial herb or undershrub with sweet pine and citrus flavours. In some Middle Eastern countries, marjoram is synonymous with oregano, and there the names sweet marjoram and knotted mar ...
, chamomile
Chamomile (American English) or camomile (British English; see spelling differences) ( or ) is the common name for several plants of the family Asteraceae. Two of the species, ''Matricaria recutita'' and ''Anthemis nobilis'', are commonly us ...
, , juniper
Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Juniperus'' () of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere, from the Arcti ...
, hyssop
''Hyssopus officinalis'' or hyssop is a shrub in the Lamiaceae or mint family native to Southern Europe, the Middle East, and the region surrounding the Caspian Sea. Due to its purported properties as an antiseptic, cough reliever, and expecto ...
, ginger
Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice
A spice is a seed, fruit, root, bark, or other plant substance primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices ...
, and labdanum
Labdanum, also called ladanum, ladan, or ladanon, is a sticky brown resin obtained from the shrubs ''Cistus ladanifer'' (western Mediterranean) and ''Cistus creticus'' (eastern Mediterranean), species of rockrose. It was historically used in her ...
. The prohibition of wormwood as a drink ingredient in the early 20th century in some countries sharply reduced its use in vermouth, but small amounts of the herb are still sometimes included in artisan
An artisan (from french: artisan, it, artigiano) is a skilled craft worker who makes or creates material objects partly or entirely by hand. These objects may be functional or strictly decorative, for example furniture, decorative art ...
products. Vermouth brand recipes vary, with most manufacturers marketing their own unique flavour and version of the beverage. Vermouth manufacturers keep their recipes for the drink secret.
Sweet vermouths usually contain 10–15% sugar. The sugar content in dry vermouths generally does not exceed 4%. Dry vermouths usually are lighter in body than sweet vermouths.
In addition to pale and red vermouths, there exist golden and rosé versions, but these are not as internationally popular. The region of Chambéry
Chambéry (, , ; Arpitan: ''Chambèri'') is the prefecture of the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of eastern France. The population of the commune of Chambéry was 58,917 as of 2019, while the population of the Chambér ...
in France has received an appellation d'origine contrôlée
An appellation is a legally defined and protected geographical indication primarily used to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown, although other types of food often have appellations as well. Restrictions other than geographical boun ...
for its vermouths, which is where the blanc style originated and also includes a strawberry-flavored version called Chambéryzette. Lillet
Lillet () is a French wine-based aperitif from Podensac. Classed as an aromatised wine within EU law, it is a blend of 85% Bordeaux region wines ( Semillon for the Blanc and for the Rosé, Merlot for the Rouge) and 15% macerated liqueurs, mos ...
, and Dubonnet
Dubonnet (, , ) is a sweet, aromatised wine-based quinquina, often enjoyed as an aperitif. It is a blend of fortified wine, herbs, and spices (including a small amount of quinine), with fermentation being stopped by the addition of alcohol. I ...
are fortified wines similar to vermouth, but are usually considered separate products. The two predominant styles of vermouth – the red, Italian rosso and the dry, white vermouth from France – were created and commercialized more than two centuries ago.
The term "Italian vermouth" is often used to refer to red-colored, mildly bitter, and slightly sweet vermouths. These types of vermouths have also been called "rosso." The label "French vermouth" generally refers to pale, dry vermouths that are more bitter than sweet vermouths. The extra bitterness is often obtained by using nutmeg
Nutmeg is the seed or ground spice of several species of the genus ''Myristica''. ''Myristica fragrans'' (fragrant nutmeg or true nutmeg) is a dark-leaved evergreen tree cultivated for two spices derived from its fruit: nutmeg, from its seed, an ...
or bitter orange peel in the drink recipe. Blanc or Bianco is a name given to a type of pale, sweeter vermouth.
According to Stuart Walton and Brian Glover, vermouth "is as far removed from the natural produce of the vine as it is possible for a fortified wine to get."
Modern use
Beverage
Vermouth is a common cocktail ingredient, particularly in martinis and Manhattans
Manhattoe/Manhattoes is a term describing a place and, mistakenly, a people. The location was the very southern tip of the Manhattan island during the time of the Dutch colonization of the Americas at what became New Amsterdam there. The people ...
. When vermouth is drunk by itself – which is seldom outside of Spain, Italy, Portugal, and France – it is normally consumed as an apéritif. Vermouth is used as an ingredient in many different cocktails, as people found it beneficial for lowering the alcohol content of cocktails with strong spirits as their base, for providing a pleasant herbal flavor and aroma, and for accentuating the flavors in the base liquor. As previously stated, vermouth is an ingredient in the martini, one of the most popular and well-known cocktails. At first, martinis used sweet vermouth. Around 1904, however, drier French vermouths began to be used in the cocktail. The term "dry martini" originally meant using a drier vermouth as a mixer, not using less vermouth, as the term is used today.
Sharon Tyler Herbst
Sharon K. Herbst (November 26, 1942 – January 26, 2007) was an American cookbook and culinary books author.
Born as Sharon Tyler in Chicago, she was raised in Denver, Colorado. She may have been best known for her fourth book, the culinary refe ...
's book, ''The Ultimate A-To-Z Bar Guide'', lists 112 cocktails using dry vermouth and 82 containing sweet vermouth. Cocktails using either dry or sweet vermouth or both include the Americano, Bronx
The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...
, Gibson
Gibson may refer to:
People
* Gibson (surname)
Businesses
* Gibson Brands, Inc., an American manufacturer of guitars, other musical instruments, and audio equipment
* Gibson Technology, and English automotive and motorsport company based
* Gi ...
, Malecon, Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
, Negroni
A Negroni is an Italian cocktail, made of one part gin, one part vermouth rosso (red, semi-sweet) and one part Campari, garnished with orange peel. It is considered an apéritif.
A traditionally made Negroni is stirred, not shaken; it is buil ...
, Rob Roy, and Rose
A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...
. Variations of cocktail recipes using equal portions of dry and sweet vermouths are called ''perfect'', as in a ''Perfect Manhattan''.
Cooking
While vermouth can be used as a substitute for white wine in food recipes, because it is more flavorful than wine, it may be overwhelming when used in certain dishes. The herbs in dry vermouth make it an attractive ingredient in sauces for fish dishes or as a marinade for other meats, including pork and chicken.
Storing
Because vermouth is fortified, an opened bottle will not sour as quickly as white wine. Opened vermouth, however, will gradually deteriorate over time. Gourmet
Gourmet (, ) is a cultural idea associated with the culinary arts of fine food and drink, or haute cuisine, which is characterized by refined, even elaborate preparations and presentations of aesthetically balanced meals of several contrasting, of ...
s recommend that opened bottles of vermouth be consumed within one to three months and should be kept refrigerated to slow oxidation
Redox (reduction–oxidation, , ) is a type of chemical reaction in which the oxidation states of substrate change. Oxidation is the loss of electrons or an increase in the oxidation state, while reduction is the gain of electrons or a d ...
.
Notable brands
The Carpano
Antonio Benedetto Carpano (1764, Bioglio (Biella) - 1815, Turin) was an Italian distiller, famous for having invented vermouth and consequently the apéritif.
In 1786, Antonio Benedetto Carpano invented modern Vermouth in Turin, made from white ...
family originated several notable brands of vermouth, including Punt e Mes Punt e Mes (from pms, pont e mes , " nepoint and a half") is an Italian vermouth. It is dark brown in color and has a bitter flavor. According to its producer, the name refers to the flavor being characterized as half a "point" of bitterness and ...
, a deep red vermouth with sweet and bitter flavors, and the Antica Formula brand, a bitter, fuller-flavored version of vermouth. Distillerie Fratelli Branca of Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
bought 50% of the Giuseppe B. Carpano company in 1982 and acquired the company outright in 2001. Gancia
Gancia is an Italian wine-making company which produces a broad range of sparkling and still wines from the Piedmont region.
History
The company was founded in 1850 in Turin by Carlo Gancia. Carlo Gancia is known as the father of Italian spark ...
, Drapò Vermouth, Delmistero, 9diDANTE and Cocchi are other Italian producers.
The Cinzano
Cinzano () is an Italian brand of vermouth, a brand owned since 1999 by Gruppo Campari.
History
Cinzano vermouths date back to 1757 and the Turin herbal shop of two brothers, Giovanni Giacomo and Carlo Stefano Cinzano, who created a new "vermo ...
family began production in 1757 in Turin. Their Bianco product is a sweet, pale vermouth.
vermouth from Chambéry
Chambéry (, , ; Arpitan: ''Chambèri'') is the prefecture of the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of eastern France. The population of the commune of Chambéry was 58,917 as of 2019, while the population of the Chambér ...
, France, has been made since 1815. Their product lineup carries both a traditional dry, two different kinds of sweet (red and blanco), and a strawberry (chamberyzette). Dolin is recognized as creating the blanc style.
Martini & Rossi
Martini & Rossi is an Italian multinational alcoholic beverage company primarily associated with the Martini brand of vermouth and also with sparkling wine (for example, Asti). It also produces the French vermouth, Noilly Prat.
History
The co ...
, the top-selling international brand of vermouth, started in 1863 in Turin and produces both dry and sweet vermouths, but is mostly known for its Rosso. Cinzano and Martini & Rossi also produce rosé vermouths, which are mainly distributed in Italy and France.
Noilly Prat
Noilly Prat () is a brand of vermouth from France, owned by the Italian company Martini & Rossi, which is a subsidiary of Bacardi. "White" Noilly Prat is the archetype of dry, straw-coloured French vermouth. Noilly Prat now makes Red and Ambre ver ...
, based in southern France, is primarily known for its dry, pale vermouths, but also produces a sweeter version. The company was founded by Joseph Noilly in 1813.
See also
* Amaro (liqueur)
Amaro () is an Italian herbal liqueur that is commonly consumed as an after-dinner Apéritif and digestif, digestif. It usually has a bitter-sweet flavour, sometimes syrupy, and has an Alcohol by volume, alcohol content between 16% and 40%.
S ...
* Bitters
Bitters (plural also ''bitters'') is traditionally an alcoholic preparation flavored with botanical matter for a bitter or bittersweet flavor. Originally, numerous longstanding brands of bitters were developed as patent medicines, but now are ...
* Fortified wine
Fortified wine is a wine to which a distilled spirit, usually brandy, has been added. In the course of some centuries, winemakers have developed many different styles of fortified wine, including port, sherry, madeira, Marsala, Commanda ...
Notes
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Italian alcoholic drinks