THE IMPORTANCE OF GOOD WINE IN VERMOUTH

Ancient Rome was a place of power and intrigue, the kind of city where unveiling a secret could be just as valuable as keeping it away from prying ears. With technology still two millennia away, in vino veritas became the cyber weapon of choice, the simple hack that could bring down every wall and uncover all mysteries. After all, the Romans knew a thing or two about wine and they knew that in wine lies the truth.

This maxim comes in handy when tasting and ranking vermouth, because when a drink by both law and tradition needs to contain at least 75% wine you better make sure that you are getting the good stuff.

GREAT WINE MATTERS

Vermouth started its rise to fame as the drink of Kings at the court of Savoy, in the northern Italian city of Turin. That vermouth would flourish here is no surprise, with the city strategically placed between the Alps to the north and the Ligurian port of Genova to the south. A place where master blenders had access to natural fresh herbs that grew in abundance as well as to the exotic spices, that arrived to Genova, from distant lands.

None of this would have made sense, however, without the great wines that the Piemonte region has always been renowned for. With over one thousand native grape varieties, ten wine zone denominations, and more D.O.C. and D.O.C.G. wines than anywhere else in Italy, it is here that Italian winemaking reaches its greatest expression and where vintages fit for a King have been carefully crafted for as long as anyone can remember.

These are the same wines that would have been blended into the best vermouths enjoyed at the Palace, wines that add body and character to the final drinking experience, wines that are perfectly complemented by the botanical essences, wines that should be celebrated and talked about because there are no two ways about it, you need great wine to make great vermouth.

WINE GONE BAD

There was a time not so long ago when wine did not matter in vermouth, dark days that started with the passing of the American Prohibition and that gathered speed with the onset of World War II, an unfortunate period in history that became very inhospitable for the fortunes of vermouth.

As the chic drink of European high society, vermouth helped inspire and popularize American cocktail culture, but with the signing of Prohibition in 1920, imports of vermouth were outlawed together with that of all other alcoholic products. Speakeasies across America continued to serve cocktails, which they mixed with bootlegged spirits that were either illegally produced within the United States or smuggled across the Canadian border. It was relatively easy to produce passable whiskey or gin during this period, but the quality and taste of the “vermouth” that bartenders has access to dropped considerably as the access to great wine (actually even bad wine was hard to come by) disappeared.

The bartenders that chose to escape prohibition and lead the American Bar revolution across London’s top hotels fared a bit better, at least until WWII exploded and with it their regular supplies of vermouth from occupied Italy and France. It was this inability to source great quality and good condition vermouth, together with a cheeky will to boycott the enemy, that led Churchill to famously say that “the only way to make a martini was with ice-cold gin and a bow in the direction of France”.

These two events ultimately had the same impact and resulted in vermouth gradually being exiled from the cocktail glass. Its quality could simply no longer be guaranteed and consumers started to avoid its taste. A trend that unfortunately did not stop here as the resulting drop in consumption led to many brands exiting the market or being taken over. The lack of competition saw how a reduced number of players raced to cut costs and with it the quality of the wines that went into their vermouths. These were products without soul, poor clones of a distant original that came with the poisoned pill of affordability.

WINE’S BACK BABY, GREAT WINE’S BACK

All great stories have a great redemption, and the story of great vermouth could not be any different. The turn of the century has brought a revival of cocktail culture that was sparked by Sasha Petraske and the opening of his New York bar Milk and Honey. His idealistic view on service and ingredients started a following of disciples that sought to revive the drinks that had been immortalized in cocktail books from the late 1900s, only to realize that the vermouths that were readily available were simply not good enough to replicate the drinks and tastes that those books were transmitting to them.

We must thank these pioneers for their curiosity and their rigour, and also for their perseverance. It is thanks to them that small vermouth producers that had been forgotten got a say once again, and it is thanks to them that new innovative formulas have come to life. The category is once again booming and with it the opportunity of tasting great vermouths that are putting the emphasis and value back in their wines and personalities.

Great wine is back, and it is this attention to its quality that is driving the renewed strength and appreciation behind vermouth. I encourage you to go out there and sample them, discover how they transform your cocktail experience, or simply pour straight into a glass on the rocks as the master blender intended you to enjoy it because in great wine lies the truth!

Learn about our story, see our fantastic vermouth cocktails, discover our glorious botanicals and buy our beautiful Vermouth Di Torino!