Carpano Antica Formula Vermouth, 100cl

Product Information

Now here’s the deal with negroni ingredients. Because there are only three ingredients, you generally want to use high quality spirits for this drink. There’s no sweetner, there’s nothing to mask crappy booze. When storing Carpano Antica, make sure to keep it in a cool, dark place away from direct sunlight. You should also store it in its original bottle with the cork on tight so that it doesn’t lose any flavor or aroma. When serving, pour your Carpano Antica over ice and top with club soda or seltzer for a refreshing drink. Pairings The Piemonte region in northwestern Italy, centered around the city of Turin, is the historic center of sweet vermouth production. Nestled between France and Switzerland at the foot of the Alps, it has excellent climate for wine grapes as well as easy access to the wild mountain herbs that give vermouth its unique flavor. Local producer Cocchi is dedicated to making wines and aperitifs in the old-fashioned way, and its Vermouth di Torino revived an authentic 19th-century vermouth style that had all but disappeared.

If you’re just getting your feet wet with less complex drinks like the Gin& Tonic or the Cuba Libre this advice may not be all that valuable (yet), but if you’re exploring drinks like the Manhattan, the Negroni or the Vieux Carré then you can take it to the bank. Nicholas McClelland has written about spirits for Men’s Journal, Fatherly, and Inside Hook. His bar is deep with rare single malts, hard-to-find bourbons, and ryes, but he doesn't believe there's anything too precious to share with friends. One of the best-known Italian dessert wines is Vin Santo (“holy water”), produced in many parts of Italy but most widely in Tuscany, where it is commonly enjoyed after a meal with a type of biscotti called cantucci. Vin Santo is a passito wine, meaning it is made from grapes that have been dried for several months before fermentation, which can last for years. Typically, a blend of Trebbiano and Malvasia, Vin Santo can be made in dry or off-dry styles. But the best known versions are rich, complex and sweet, offering delectable notes of caramel, hazelnut, honey and dried apricot. Fortified examples do exist, but the finest are not fortified, coming in at 13%-14% alcohol. Unless you’re trying to go rogue, then you can create any number of great drinks using different amaros. In this case, the golden rule is that the bottle should be a sweet style of vermouth, made with red grapes, and infused with an array of spices. Beyond that, it’s a case of diving into the details.

What is Vermouth

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. The myriad styles, profiles, and countries of origin of sweet vermouth actually make the whiskey selection seem simple by comparison. This is why we took on the task of tasting more than two dozen bottles to highlight the best of the best. Sure, subtle hints for sure, but the bitter Campari flavor is pretty overpowering, so unless you truly have the palate of a sommelier (what do you call a sommelier for booze?)

The country of origin can give you some clues, but you really have to taste a sweet vermouth to know whether it's for you. Remember that "sweet" is a relative term: The wine has some sweetness, but it also has sour acidity, herbal bitterness, and tannic body. One sweet vermouth might have vanilla and caramel on the palate, while another could feature fruitier strawberry and plum.There are thousands of variations of a negroni recipe, and ones using literally every type of vermouth imaginable. Get a mixing glass (not a shaker!), and add 1oz each of London Dry Gin, Campari, and sweet vermouth.

Most importantly, with three equal ingredients, they all play off each other in a careful balance. So by shaking it you’re making it too cold, too diluted, and throwing off the balance of the drink. The Boulevardier is similar to the Manhattan but uses bourbon instead of whiskey. It also includes Campari in addition to Carpano Antica, creating an even more complex flavor profile than the Manhattan.Although the origin of this name is not certain, it probably derives from “Wermuth” the German word for “absinthe” (Arthemisia absinthium). The old spellings of the name were Vermouth, Wermouth or Wermuth. We know that this type of wine was prepared by the ancient Romans and given the name Absinthiatum (o Absinthianum) vinum. The first Italian writer to make mention of this wine was C. Villifranchi in his Tuscan Oenology (1773). It owes its fame, however, to Antonio Benedetto Carpano, the first person to replicate the recipe with the same characteristics and taste in his wine shop starting in 1786. It ain’t cheap, but if you want what I believe to be the best vermouth for a classic negroni, I’d go with that. Carpano Antica sweet vermouth uses this original formulation, which provides a great story and an interesting touchstone to history – in my opinion. What Does Carpano Antica Taste Like? 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.

Vermouth is a fortified wine, which is a wine that's been "fortified" with a distilled spirit (usually brandy, in the case of vermouth) to raise the alcohol content. Vermouth in particular is also infused with herbs and spices to add a wide variety of flavors. The name comes from vermut, German for wormwood, an herb that's traditionally (but not always) part of the recipe. Sweet vermouth is darker in color and, generally, sweeter than dry vermouth, but each brand uses a different base wine and set of botanicals to create its own signature flavor. Sometimes called Italian vermouth or red vermouth, sweet vermouth doesn't have to come from Italy, and it's actually made from white wine in most cases—the color comes from the botanicals as well as barrel-aging. And again, the best part about a negroni is how easy it is to tweak. So have something else you want to try in place of standard sweet vermouth? Give it a shot! It’ll probably work. Without further ado, here are the nine best sweet vermouths for your Manhattan, tasted and ranked. 9. Noilly Prat RougeIn 1786, Antonio Benedetto Carpano invented modern Vermouth in Turin, Italy. He was a herbalist who had studied his craft for many years before creating this unique beverage. He combined white wine with an infusion of herbs and spices to create the original recipe for what we now know as Carpano Antica Formula Vermouth.