White vermouth

White vermouth is a fortified wine, flavored with spicy and various medicinal plants, with a sugar content of 10-15%.

The name 'vermouth' is the French pronunciation of the German word Wermut for wormwood, which was used as an ingredient for the drink. Wines containing wormwood as the main ingredient existed in Germany in the 16th century. Around the same time, an Italian merchant named D'Alessio began producing a similar product in Piedmont as 'wormwood wine'. From the mid-17th century, the drink was used in England.

Over time, two different versions of vermouth began to be produced, one pale, dry, and bitter, the other red and sweeter. Merchant Antonio Benedetto Carpano introduced the first sweet vermouth in 1786 in Turin, Italy. The drink quickly became popular at the Turin court. Between 1800 and 1813, Joseph Noilly created the first dry vermouth in France. The use of vermouth as a medicinal liqueur waned by the late 18th century, but it began to be consumed more often as an aperitif in Italy and France. With the advent of various cocktail recipes in the late 19th century, this type of wine became popular in a new role. Bartenders found it to be the perfect mixer for many cocktails.

The same varieties of grapes that are used to produce low-alcohol white wines usually serve as raw materials for producing vermouth. The wine may be aged for a short period of time before adding other ingredients. For sweet vermouths, a sugar syrup is added before the wine is fortified with additional alcohol. Then the wine is placed in large barrels or containers already containing the dried ingredients. The mixture is periodically stirred until the dry ingredients have been absorbed. Spices often used in vermouth include cloves, cinnamon, quinine, citrus peel, cardamom, marjoram, chamomile, coriander, juniper, hyssop, and ginger. A prohibition on wormwood, as an ingredient in beverages at the beginning of the 20th century in some countries, drastically reduced its use in vermouths.

Vermouth variations: Vermouth Secco - dry vermouth, with a sugar content not exceeding 4%; Vermouth Bianco - white vermouth, containing from 10 to 15% sugar; Vermouth Rosso (sweet) - red vermouth with a sugar content of more than 15%; Vermouth Rose - pink vermouth with a sugar concentration between white and red.

The main producers of vermouth are: Bacardi-Martini, Campari, Carpano, Cinzano, Barbero, Ricadonna, Gancia, Lillet, Noilly Prat, Bussot.

Vermouth is consumed pure or as an ingredient for cocktails or culinary products.