“Fashion passes, style remains,” said Coco Chanel. When it comes to food and drinks, sometimes it can take decades to return. This is currently true for vermouth. It was once an indispensable bottle on bar shelves and in liquor cabinets. Then it virtually disappeared. Donna Letizia, the world’s queen of good manners after the Second World War, wrote in her book Saper Vivere (a modern etiquette manual that should be used as a textbook in schools) that a bottle of Vermouth should always to be kept at home. Until a few years ago it was hard to find. Thanks to hipsters and the new trend of vintage cocktails, artisanal recipes and niche products have once again made their way into the world of international mixology.
First things first: what is vermouth?
Vermouth is all-Italian. It was first created in Turin in 1786 by Antonio Benedetto Carpano (called Vermut) The French also mention vermouth, including extraordinary products such as Vermouth Dolin of Chambéry, near Lyon. Technically it’s a fortified wine: that is, a young wine, with alcohol, sugar and an infusion of herbs and spices added (a secret mixture that differs from producer to producer). It exists in different colors (red, white and rosé) and sweetnesses (sweet, dry, extra dry and quinine).
Its creation, luck in the States, decline, and rebirth
Initially used as a medicine, then drunk straight as an aperitivo with only an ice cube, it became successful in blended cocktails in the United States, becoming the base for great classics like the Manhattan. These were the years of great industrial production of brands like Martini and Carpano, and the decline of small producers. Today old and valuable formulas are being rediscovered, and brands that seemed to have disappeared are being brought back to life. If cocktails were mainly easily made long drinks that tended to be sweeter and had lots of ice in the ’90s, today we drink bitter drinks which are acidic, not very sugary or smoked. The Caipiroska, Mojito or rum and coke have been archived in favor of the Negroni, Americano and great aperitivo classics like the Manhattan, in which gin, vermouth and Campari are mixed together for more “masculine” flavors. With fewer elements and more concentrated taste, bartenders need to be creative and give twists to traditional recipes. And then it becomes clear that quality and raw ingredients are fundamental.
How and why vermouth is back in fashion: we asked the bartender Tommaso Cecca
Why is vermouth experiencing a comeback?
“People have been starting to drink earlier in the day, whereas before they started after 7 pm. Now the first drinks in big cities are starting to be served around 5 pm, which makes the mixing less alcoholic: that’s why vermouth – with its 16-19% alcohol – is suitable. It’s more digestible because it’s been infused in wine. The other advantage is that there is a current trend for spicy cocktails, and vermouth is very useful because it’s an almost ready cocktail on its own, but it lends itself to different combinations, from the great classics where it was already present, to those of the new generation. Although vermouth is Italian, this is a trend of rebirth. At the end of the 19th century there was vermouth, marsala, gin, and very few whiskeys, whereas vodka, rum, and tequila didn’t even exist [in Italy]. So of course vermouth was popular. It already made a comeback in London seven to eight years ago, in America in the last four or five years and in the southern European market of Italy, Spain and Germany as well.”
Have you noticed activity among producers to reach high quality levels, or is the market dominated by big brands?
Some different ones are starting to show up, more or less personalized but all with the same basic characteristics: namely, little innovation, and a tendency toward caramel and absinthe. Some products are a bit different, like the white Cinzano which has a tendency toward chamomile and the dry one, with hints of freshly cut grass. The red vermouth is quite mono-thematic, although it’s also the most used because it goes well with spirits such as whiskey, rum, and gin. It was created as a product to cover over wines that were not as successful. But in Italy there is a tradition for amazing and excellent dishes that come from recovering discarded materials. In the past excellent wines that hadn’t come out perfectly, but had their own personality, where used for vermouth. On the other hand, today neutral, filtered wines are used to make it as basic as possible, and when tasted to evaluate the quality of the spices used, you can taste that the wine isn’t the best.”
Straight up or mixed?
“Essentially, mixed. The product that is most consumed along with vermouth is Campari, then whiskey for a Manhattan, and only then is it served straight up. It’s strange that its popularity is growing inexorably and that 90% of it is still used to make mixed drinks. It’s hard to drink straight up, and there are few vermouth purists, like you find in Spain, who drink it straight.”
How can you recognize good quality?
“A good vermouth should cost more than a few euros per bottle. It takes at least 80 days to make: 50 for the infusion plus 20 between decanting and filtration. With a good quality bottle, however, at home you already have a drink ready with an ice cube or a splash of lemon.”