Nonino Quintessentia Amaro Liqueur 750ml

The Nonino family has distilled in Percoto, in Italy's Friuli region, since 1897, and their amaro traces its roots to a recipe Antonio Nonino developed in 1933 using wild mountain herbs infused into his own grappa. His son Benito refined that formula into its current form in 1992 to mark the distillery's centennial, naming it Quintessentia. The family had already reshaped the grappa category in 1973 by producing the first single varietal grappa from Picolit grapes, and their commitment to quality is often traced to a 1983 incident in which they destroyed a substandard batch rather than sell it. The distillery remains family run today, now led by the fourth and fifth generations.

What sets Quintessentia apart from most amari is its base: rather than a neutral grain spirit, it starts with ÙE, an aged grape distillate the family developed from whole-grape pomace in 1984. This base is infused with a wide array of botanicals, including gentian root, quassia bark, licorice, bitter and sweet orange, rhubarb, tamarind, saffron, and galenga, following the original family recipe. The infused spirit is then aged in barriques made from oak, ash, and wild cherry wood, some previously used for sherry, which softens the bitterness relative to neutral-spirit amari.

The color is a warm, coppery amber with reddish glints. On the nose, orange peel, apricot, and caramel lead, layered with baking spice and a whisper of licorice. The palate is bittersweet rather than sharply bitter, balancing honeyed fruit and gentian against a smooth, lingering finish of soft spice and toasted wood.