Antica Torino Bianco Vermouth 750ml

Antica Torino was founded in Piedmont by importer Vittorio Zoppi alongside winemaker Filippo Antonelli, built around a family recipe rather than an industrial one. The formula belonged to the family of Paola Rogai, the company's longtime office manager, whose great-uncle Carlin worked for FIAT in Turin during the 1940s while making wine and vermouth from his family's vineyards in the Monferrato hills. Zoppi and Antonelli revived his recipe largely unchanged for a modern audience.

The bianco is built from a blend of Piedmontese trebbiano, chardonnay, and cortese, fortified with a neutral spirit distilled from wheat and infused with local botanicals. Wormwood, marjoram, sage, thistle, thyme, coriander, and iris are macerated together, while the licorice is processed separately to preserve its distinct character before all the components are blended back into the base wine. The finished vermouth reaches sixteen percent alcohol with a moderate 165 grams of sugar per liter.

Pale straw yellow with golden highlights, it opens with marshmallow and white flower aromas before a round, pleasant bitterness settles across the mid-palate, closing on a long finish of licorice root and sweet tarragon. Serve it well chilled on the rocks with a twist, or use it in place of sweet vermouth in a Negroni Bianco alongside gin and elderflower liqueur.