What makes a vermouth a vermouth? Never has the question been more difficult to answer. While the classic expressions—sweet, dry, blanc/bianco—remain the same, the bottles, brands and DNA of each continue to shapeshift, expanding the boundaries of what one would typically categorize as vermouth.
Vermouth Styles
Sweet
Also known as red, rosso, rouge or Italian, sweet vermouth ranges in color from garnet to dark caramel. It has an average of 150 grams of sugar per liter and is typically rich and spicy, with lightly herbaceous notes. Vermouth di Torino is an expression whose ingredients and production are protected by an appellation of origin. Subcategories include Vermouth Alla Vaniglia, a regional style prominently flavored with vanilla (Carpano Antica Formula, based on a recipe from the late 1700s and reintroduced in 2001, is a notable example) and Vermouth con Bitter, also known as a vermouth amaro, which has an extra dose of bittering agents like gentian. Cinchona lends a distinctive bitterness to Chinato, but this style, exclusively made in Italy’s Piedmont region, typically uses a premium wine as its base and stylistically straddles the line between vermouth and amaro.
Dry
Also called French vermouth, this style usually contains less than 50 grams of sugar per liter, with a clear to slightly golden hue, and is generally more floral and herbaceous than sweet vermouth. Marseille dry vermouth was first produced by Joseph Noilly in the early 1800s in Marseille, France, and the lightly aged blend is considered to be the first commercial dry vermouth. Vermouth de Chambéry is a lighter, more understated style developed by Dolin in the early 1800s in southern France.
Blanc/Bianco
Known as blanc, bianco or white, this clear, semisweet vermouth has distinctive floral and herbal notes. The French vermouth house Dolin, in Chambéry, France—the only protected appellation of origin for vermouth aside from Italy’s Vermouth di Torino—pioneered this style with its Blanc Vermouth Chambéry, a favorite among contemporary bartenders.
At its core, vermouth is a bittersweet, low-ABV, aromatized and fortified wine, flavored with proprietary blends of herbs, spices and bitter botanicals. It’s bolstered with a distilled base spirit and typically sweetened with sugar. But each expression, producer and bottling has its own traditions, history and production methods for a consumer to consider before even twisting off the bottle cap.
“There is a lot of excitement building, not only for the category of vermouth, but for fortified wines in general,” says Stacey Swenson, bar director at Mattos Hospitality, which includes Altro Paradiso, Lodi and Estela in New York. In fact, Swenson and bar industry veteran Chris Patino recently launched their own line of Italian vermouth with Villa Massa, called Vermouth Giardino, that was developed specifically with cocktails in mind.
Although the cocktail renaissance has helped vermouth take its place in the spotlight as a key component in classic drinks, it’s still in need of evangelists willing to demystify the category as it continues to expand. “It is an exciting time to preach the good word of vermouth,” says Matt Chavez, bar manager of the Italian restaurant Ci Siamo in New York, noting an influx of Italian and French products newly available in the United States alongside an array of New World producers. “Every product tells its own story and lends its own unique hand to classic and esoteric cocktail building.”
The biggest change to the category over the past few years? The increasing popularity of vermouth from Spain, particularly a new crop of sherry-based bottlings from both Lustau and González Byass; they join smaller, idiosyncratic offerings from the likes of Fred Jerbis (from Italy), La Quintinye (France) and Channing Daughters (United States), and a general reshuffling of allegiances in the classic categories. To get a sense of how this new multiplicity is finding a place behind the bar right now, we spoke to bartenders across the country about their essential brands and bottlings, and how to use them. Here’s what they had to say.
