🍷 Vermouth

Vermouth is an aromatised wine whose characteristic taste comes from Artemisia plants, that is, wormwood, with other herbs and spices. It contains at least 75% wine and has a strength from 14.5% to under 22%. It can be sweet or dry, white or red. It is a wine, not a spirit or a liqueur.

According to the Vermut di Torino specification, by the end of the 18th century making vermouth in Turin was a true craft, and from the first half of the 19th century it was exported. In France the drink took the name Vermouth. The protected name Vermouth de Chambéry lost its protection in 2017, because France did not submit the documents.

Extracts of herbs and spices are added to the wine, along with sugar or grape must and often alcohol. Besides wormwood they may include yarrow, chamomile, hyssop, thyme, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, nutmeg, vanilla and saffron. Producers keep their recipes secret. By sugar, vermouth runs from extra-dry, under 30 g/l, and dry, under 50 g/l, to sweet, from 130 g/l.

Vermut di Torino is the only protected vermouth name in the EU register. It is made in Piedmont from Italian wines, with added alcohol, at 16–22%. The wormwood, absinthium or pontica, must also come from Piedmont, at least 0.5 g of dried plant per litre. Colour may come only from caramel. The Superiore version has at least 17%, with at least half its volume wine from Piedmont.

Why it matters to you. On the label, check the sweetness level: extra-dry and dry contain far less sugar than sweet. «Vermut di Torino» guarantees Piedmont and wormwood from there, while plain «vermouth» may come from any country. This is an alcoholic drink: according to the WHO, alcohol is toxic and can cause dependence.