Bordiga NV Vermouth Rosso di Torino, Piedmont

Bordiga NV Vermouth Bianco di Torino, Piedmont, Italy [750 ml Vermouth]

This lighter style red vermouth is based on the Piedmontese grapes, including some Moscato and Nebbiolo (sourced from the Conterno cellar and Barolo Bussia Vineyards) and infused with a wide range of different botanicals, many of them grown in the Occitan Alps near the winery. The flavor of this vermouth is complex and vivid,  with an excellent balance of sweetness and bitterness. Some vermouths  taste strongly of a single botanical, but the interplay of components  here is distinctive and delicious. We drink it with a splash of soda water as an aperitivo, and you should too.

The  botanical flavorings are macerated in pure grain alcohol that has been  distilled three times for purity. They are infused individually, not all  together, because different botanicals have different requirements for  the best extraction of essential oils. Once all the extractions have  been done, the infusions are added to the base wine, and the mixture is  left for 10 days before the sugar (Italian or French beet sugar) is  added; then that mixture is left for 5-6 days before being cold  stabilized. (This process was done in the old days by moving the tanks  outside during the snowy Piedmontese winter, but nowadays is done in a  refrigerated tank.) After another few days resting the Vermouth is  bottled; after another month it’s ready to drink. In other words, this vermouth has a strong local component, and is entirely traditional.

Requirements for authentic Vermouth di Torino:
1. the producer  must be ‘historic,’ which is to say must have been operating for at  least 50 years (Bordiga has been in continuous operation since 1888)
2. the recipe or the brand must be historic (again, Bordiga Vermouth was first produced at the end of the 19th century)
3. must be produced in an artisanal manner
4. must be produced in Piedmont
5.  must be based on wine, and have an alcohol content of at least 16°, and  must use the botanical flavorings typical of the area.Bordiga is  different from many of the Vermouth labels sold now because they  produce the vermouth themselves, they don’t buy it from a producer, and  they’ve been producing quality Vermouth for over a hundred years. The winery says ‘Bordiga is a producer, not a label,’ and ‘Tradition is our  present, and our future.’ 

Cocktails: https://www.bordiga1888.it/cocktails-with-vermouth/?lang=en