How do you Vermouth?
For the last century, the category of aromatized wine has become an afterthought in the world of libations. Perhaps the most famous of these is Vermouth, a beverage that we’ve all heard of or taken an interest in, or maybe even experimented with shaking up a Manhattan or Negroni. But I’ve noticed that the average drinker is not quite sure what to reach for when they approach this section of misfit bottles and retro labels. However, the more I taste and read about them, the more I’m fascinated with their history, culture, and mystique. It would be a shame to leave them all unexplored.
So, what exactly is vermouth? It belongs to the broader family of aromatized wine. They start with a base of wine (almost always white) or mistelle (wine with a halted fermentation from the addition of alcohol, leaving it sweet). It is then fortified with the addition of a neutral distilled alcohol. To give these wines their signature personalities, different herbs, barks, fruit, roots, and spices are added to the wines and their flavors are extracted through maceration. The idea of infusing wine with botanicals is as old as wine itself. There is evidence of this from Egypt, Iran, Georgia, Greece. Recently, remains of botanicals have been found in China from around 1,050 BC that had been soaked in rice wine.
The EU has laws protecting these subcategories, but one of the main stipulations for vermouth is that it must contain wormwood. It is after-all, where the wine gets its name (from the German vermut ). Wormwood is a pungent herb from the Mediterranean that has a mentholated bitterness that’s unmistakable. Its medicinal uses date back to 1500 BC to the ancient Egyptians who used it to ail stomach maladies. Since 1991 the EU has relaxed the requirement for wormwood in Vermouth though most still contain one of the 400 variants of the plant.
Until the Renaissance, aromatized wine was used for medicinal purposes. As the bourgeois class emerged and the Americas were discovered, it began to be consumed for pleasure. It must be noted that the culture around an aperitif (from the Latin aperire - to open) dates back to Roman times when they would use wormwood and other bitter ingredients in their wines to fire up the appetite before grand feasts.
Fast-forward to the 18th century to Torino, a hub of cafés that brought people together to exchange ideas over food and beverages. It was here, just below the Alps, with an abundance of herbs, flowers and barks that vermouth was born. This is where Antonio Benedetto Carpano created Carpano Antica, a rich, vanilla-heavy, spicy concoction that has served as the gateway drug of vermouth to many a bartender.
On the other side of the Alps the French developed, leaner, drier versions of vermouth. Spain took the idea and ran with it, creating their own glorious culture around the beverage that lives on today. Many taverns in Spain have their own house vermouth and signature recipe of botanicals. Even Brassica in our own Jamaica Plain makes their house vermouth by using gentian, cardamom, apricots, fennel, and wormwood just to name a few. The idea came from not wanting to waste any open wine that would go unused. They’ve created magnificent concoctions that really showcase the spirits of what a vermouth should be.
Lower abv. beverages are being explored now more than ever, especially because many of us are stuck at home. Sometimes drinking is less of a sprint and more of a steady marathon. These drinks are packed with layers of flavor, they’re a cocktail on their own! All you have to do is pour them over ice, add a splash of soda and an orange wedge and you’re done!
Check out some of my favorite vermouths and aromatized wines below!
