Vermouth

Buy Vermouth Online

Corks Out offer a good selection of some of the best Vermouth available. Feel free to browse online and choose your Vermouth from our our selection. If you do have any questions on any of the Bottles of Vermouth, please feel free to contact our customer services team.

What is Vermouth?

Vermouth – a staple ingredient in a vast number of classic and contemporary cocktails, but how many of us know exactly what vermouth is, how it’s made and indeed its history?

Vermouth is a fortified wine flavoured with herbs and spices that is part of the ‘aromatised wine’ family and although there is no specific date or period in history for the creation of vermouth, it is known that the ancient Greeks used to make it (circa 400BC) by macerating wormwood and dittany flowers in strong, sweet wine which was prescribed for rheumatism, anemia and period pains. Jumping ahead to Roman times, aromatic wine recipes had become ever more elaborate as an increasing number of exotic spices became available. Wine was blended with fragrant Mediterranean herbs such as rosemary, thyme and myrtle to create aromatised wines that were prized for their health giving properties.

Modern day vermouths can be traced back to the 1500’s when a merchant from Piedmont called d’Alessio is known to have sold wormwood wine in northwest Italy. By the middle ages there were two main production areas of vermouth – one was Piedmont, which had an abundance of botanicals on its hilly doorstep; and the other was nearer the southeast French border. Both these regions were encompassed in the Ancient Kingdom of Savoy. 

At this time, Savoy had a wide array of grapes but made very poor wine that needed improving with the addition of herbs and spices. The region was also well positioned for major trade routes such as Venice which received shipments from places as far afield as Africa and India, the result of which was new and exotic spices and herbs became available, including cinnamon, cloves, ginger and cardamom. As the demand for health giving elixirs grew, as did vermouth production in the region. However, by the 20^th century this medicinal image was far more of a hindrance to vermouth in terms of marketing and distribution. Luckily, vermouth was adopted by the cocktail industry and grew massively in popularity as a mixing ingredient.

The origins of the word ‘vermouth’ itself are contested between the Germans and the Italians. It is claimed by the Italians that it originated in Turin toward the end of the 1700’s when the word vermouth was first recorded – an Italian distiller, Antonio Benedetto Carpano, sought inspiration from the German word for wormwood: ‘Wermut’. Although it may seem odd that an Italian would use a German name for inspiration, it’s possible that an earlier origin exists – the Royal Court of Bavaria popularised ‘Wermut Wein’ in the earlier 17^th century, a wine that used wormwood to flavour and provide health giving properties to the wine. It is thought that the fondness for aromatic wine found its way the French Court, who pronounced it ‘Vermouth’. 

Wormwood is a bitter plant from the Artemisia genus which is used for a wide variety of reasons, including insect repellents, antiseptics, digestives and even to clear worms from stricken patients – hence the name. Any product that is based on wines fortified with spirit and flavoured with herbs and spices is aromatised wine, but in accordance with European Economic Community regulations vermouth must contain Artemisia, although the species and quantity is not specified.

Furthermore, European Council Regulations stipulate that vermouths: 

• Are based on wine made according to EU wine legislation and be present in the finished product in a proportion of not less than 75%
• Are fortified by the addition of alcohol
• Artemisia spices and substances and/or natural flavouring, aromatic herbs and/or spices are used for flavouring
• Can only be sweetened with caramelised sugar, sucrose, grape must, rectified concentrated grape must or concentrated grape must
• Can be coloured with caramel
• Must have a minimum alcohol content of 14.5% and a maximum of 22%

Other than the difference between sweet and dry, the main variation in vermouth styles depends on the quality of the wine used and the combination of the botanicals. Although popular belief has it that Italian vermouth was originally sweet and French vermouth typically dry, this distinction between the two countries was never so defined and producers in both countries produce sweet and dry styles.

Further differences between the two styles (medium sweet Bianco appeared on the scene sometime in the 1960’s) are determined by their sugar levels – sweet vermouths contain around 150 grams of sugar per litre, while their dry counterparts contain under 50 grams per litre. Although red vermouth was initially made from red wine, virtually all is now made from white wine with the addition of caramel to give its amber-red colour. 

During the production process, the base wine is sometimes aged in wood (for up to a year in some cases) which gives a spicy, richer vermouth. To develop these complex flavours, the botanicals are incorporated into the vermouth in a variety of ways, the most common being by concentrated extract produced by macerating the botanicals in neutral alcohol. This maceration can last for several weeks before the flavoured extract can be siphoned off and the botanicals pressed. These botanicals are then distilled in a mixture of neutral alcohol and water, which extracts some of the more volatile flavours contained in certain botanicals.

Vermouths are usually sweetened (usually with added sugar) to kill the yeast before it can convert all the natural sugars to alcohol. This low alcohol, high sugar wine is know as ‘mistelle’ – this is then blended into the base wine, which is then mixed with alcohol, water, the botanical extracts and if required, caramel. The vermouth is then left to marry in blending tanks for a number of weeks before it ready for bottling.

Although vermouth has a much longer shelf life than wine, it will begin to oxidise once opened so should ideally be stored in the fridge and consumed within 6 weeks of opening. If you’re struggling to polish off the bottle, it goes fantastically well in a risotto!