Aromatic vermouths to try this Christmas
Our wine expert on why the sweetly bitter taste of vermouth is perfect for festive drinking - with the best to try.
Image credit: Getty Images/Semenovp
Our wine expert on why the sweetly bitter taste of vermouth is perfect for festive drinking - with the best to try.
This Christmas everyone is being welcomed over to ours with the drink I tried in a small bar in Ronda, Spain, this summer: ‘vermut’ over ice. Rich, herbal and ancient in origin – and I’ve yet to find anyone who doesn’t like it. Perhaps that’s how Romans would have welcomed you to their home around the time of the first Christmas.
Vermuts, vermouths and ‘aromatised’ wines are currently enjoying their biggest revival since Leonard Rossiter and Joan Collins advertised Cinzano in the 1970s. And I love it.
That day in Spain I was given Lustau Vermut Rojo (15%, £15 for 50cl). It’s a mix of sherry wines with herbs and spices, such as wormwood, gentian, coriander and oranges. Yes, you can make it into cocktails, but I like it with tonic, ice, a slice of orange, and friends. You’ll make them smile.
If you like rich red wines, you’ll adore Paso-Vermú from Paso Primero (15%, £17.40). Paso Primero makes fabulous regular dry wines. But here red and white are blended together, fortified, and Pyrenean spices added for a rich, inviting drink – and an excellent choice to warm the cockles.
If you’re a fan of fresh, aromatic white wines, you’ll love The London Vermouth Company No.3 S E Dry (17%, £28 for 50cl), a light, fresh, apple-scented vermouth made in collaboration with the chef Steven Edwards. (You might remember him winning Masterchef: The Professionals ten years ago.)
It manages to perfectly capture the scents of a country garden.
Vermouths get their distinctive character from a (usually secret) mix of herbs and spices. It’s an ancient craft. Pliny the Elder described 66 different Roman recipes, with ingredients ranging from seawater, pine resin, and even pitch (resin).
Today, Regal Rogue makes its quaffable vermouths using exclusively Australian ingredients: organic wine and Aboriginal herbs. My favourite is Wild Rosé (16.5%, £18.95 for 50cl) made with illawarra plums, rosella, strawberry gum, fruit spice, rhubarb and kina. I don’t know what some of those are either, but I know it’s delicious with tonic and a slice of orange.
You might think that at £28, Belsazar Rosé Wine Aperitif (14.5%) is a bit steep for a bottle, but remember, you tend to drink less of these fortified, sweetly bitter beauties. Possibly. Or you are mixing them into a longer drink. Either way, these are great value once you think of them per drink, not per bottle.
And that’s what makes vermouth perfect for this time of year. A drink that combines the virtues of wine, sherry, and gin and tonic. When you don’t know who’ll pop in, vermouth and tonic is something for everyone.
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