NV Cocchi - Vermouth Torino (1960's) (17%)

Made according to the original 19th-century recipe. Cinchona, rhubarb, artemisia and citrus are soaked in spirit, which is added to the base Piemontese white wine. Sweetened with caramel. Rich amber colour. Deep and intricate. Cocoa, balsamic, bitter citrus and earthy notes. Silky smooth body, a brush of tannins and warming alcohol. A mastery of balance between sweet caramel, bitter citrus, and delicate woodsy perfume. Develops on the palate. (AR)

A startling contrast to the Bordiga Excelsior Vermouth di Torino. This smells of candy floss and toffee apples and rhubarb candy. On the palate, through the toffee-syrup sweetness there are metallic-glinting flecks of bitterness: dry instant coffee, peach kernel, dried thyme, lavender stalk, sage. Caramel swirls into milk chocolate swirls into an orange-cream liqueur, swirls into musk. Tastes much sweeter than the Bordiga. Complex and lustrous. I want to solidify it into a little amber-brown capsule and suck it like a fair-ground toffee on my way to the ferris wheel. (TC)

Smells of leather and walnut shells and dried lemon peel. Unmistakably sweet, but refined, elegant, and a piercing spine of freshness driving to the finish. Deliciously fragrant grapefruit peel and pink grapefruit through sweetness that tastes of sticky toffee pudding and cinnamon-spiced pomegranate syrup. Ginger notes, something floral. Lemon peel. So complex! The bitterness only kicks in right at the very tail end of the finish. It’s delicious with tonic water, although it almost seems a shame to dilute this intense, dazzling concoction of flavours. I’d want to focus on them, not gloss over them, which is what the tonic water encourages you to do. But what it does do is highlight the gingery flavours and bring out a distinct marmalade note. (TC)