Vya Sweet Vermouth 750ml

Vya was created by Andrew Quady, founder of California's Quady Winery, who spent two years developing the formulas for Vya Sweet and its dry counterpart before releasing the vermouth in 1999. Quady built his winery's reputation on rare and often overlooked fortified wine styles, and he brought that same experimental streak to vermouth, working through countless botanical infusions at home until the recipe was right. Today Quady Winery farms its Central Valley vineyards under California Sustainable Winegrowing certification, and Vya remains one of the best-known American-made vermouths.

Vya Sweet starts with a proprietary blend of dry California white wine, Quady's own Essensia Orange Muscat, and Starboard Batch 88, a port-style wine made from Portuguese grape varieties aged an average of five years. This base is lightly fortified with neutral grape brandy, then hand-infused with more than seventeen botanicals drawn largely from barks, roots, and seeds, including cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, and bitter orange, chosen for the warm, concentrated character these plant parts carry.

The result pours a rich mahogany color. Exotic herbal aromas give way to deeper notes of mulled wine, autumn woods, and holiday spice on the nose, while the palate balances that same warm spice against the vermouth's underlying sweetness, finishing dry enough to hold its own in a spirit-forward Manhattan.