9diDANTE vermouth cocktails– like an Alpine sip of summertime anytime!

I used to belong to the dry gin martini club where the role of vermouth was a rinse of the glass and a swift dump. Or just open the vermouth and wave it over the martini glass. Vermouth smelled nasty, and I couldn’t imagine tasting it alone, or wasting a good gin by mixing it with something else. That opinion has changed in recent years as I have discovered high quality vermouth– vermouth worthy of your palate alone and in your cocktail glass! 

As they say for New Year’s, out with the old and in with the new!

And that goes for any old bottle of vermouth! When you’re doing your pre-party planning and liquor cupboard cleansing, dump out any and all vermouth older than a month or two, and invest in two bottles of high quality vermouth– one extra dry and one sweet– for your New Year. Store it in the fridge so it will last longer with better quality.

Why? Because Vermouth is a fortified wine augmented with botanicals, and wine goes bad not long after it’s been opened and exposed to air. While some say vermouth originated in France or Spain, and its bitter nature was known for medicinal purposes by the Greeks, Vermouth as we know it today started in the northwest region of Piedmont, Italy where there’s lots of great grapes for the wine that serves as the base, the Alps just to the north offers herbs, and the port of Genoa brought spices imported from the east.

Italian roots of vermouth

During a recent educational ZOOM tasting, we became fans of 9diDANTE vermouth from Alex Ouziel. 9diDANTE is new on the market in the US and worth a search to acquire!  This one is made at the historic Dr. M. Montanaro Distillery in Piedmont, Italy, about an hour’s drive away  from Turin, Italy, considered the epicenter of world-class vermouth.

As a fortified wine with botanicals, the quality of the wine in vermouth matters. At 9diDANTE, they think of vermouth as “wine-first” where the botanicals aren’t used to mask the wine but accentuate it. The wine is the heart of the vermouth at 9diDANTE: “No one is talking about the wine that goes into vermouth,” except 9diDANTE they said in the ZOOM, so let’s “bring vermouth back to wine.” 

9diDANTE vermouth is comprised of 75% wine made from 100% DOC Piemont native grapes: 100% Arneis for the extra dry, and a blend of 50% Dolcetto, a red grape, and 50% Cortese, a white grape for the Rosso. This is unusual as most Rosso is actually made from white grapes with caramel for color, not red grapes like 9diDANTE. 

Dante inspired 9diDANTE vermouth

The name 9diDANTE refers to Dante Alighieri who wrote La Divina Comedia (The Divine Comedy) a narrative poem which details his travels through Hell (Inferno), Purgatory (Purgatorio), and Heaven (Paradisio) in his journey toward God. They liken their vermouth as similarly telling the story of the struggle for harmony.

9diDANTE vermouth– plain, on the rocks or in a cocktail will get you out of hell

9diDANTE Vermouth plus cocktails and pairings

• Purgatorio Extra Dry Vermouth di Torino Superiore IGP (100% Arneis)  |  SRP $35
• Inferno Rosso Vermouth di Torino Superiore IGP (50/50 Dolcetto/Cortese blend)  |  SRP $33

9diDANTE Purgatorio Extra Dry Vermouth di Torino Superiore IGP

9diDANTE Purgatorio Extra Dry Vermouth di Torino Superiore IGP

ABV: 18%
SRP: $35
Grapes: 100% Arneis
Importer: Unfiltered  

Nine levels of purgatory and nine herbs: woodruff, thyme, sage, mint, artemisia absinthium, melissa, lemon peel, bitter orange peel, coriander. 

Appearance:  pale lemon, platinum 

Aroma: lemon balm, mint, lemon verbena, sage, orange peel, smells really good 

Palate: We just want to drink this! So complex and delicious. On the tongue cinnamon flavor, coriander, peppery, orange peel comes though especially on the finish, while a higher alcohol, it’s light and elegant and complex with all the herbal notes enveloped by a slight sweetness balanced by the bitters.  

Pairing: With biscotti and strawberries — brilliant. Strawberries brings out the spices and citrus enhancing the flavors. Consider drizzling vermouth over strawberries for your Valentine! It also pairs well with bar food like roasted almonds and almonds with salt and rosemary. Loves salty things — yin and yang, sweet and salty. 

Cocktail: 

50-50 vermouth and Sapphire gin

These accentuate each other — herbal gin with herbal vermouth make for a lovely oceanside sipper.

With this cocktail, I want calamari and a Caesar salad,  and Sue wants a pool to pair with this drink. Great aromatics and flavor profile– sit and sniff. Lemon not olive because lemon makes it all pop. This will make a vermouth believer out of anyone who was a “no vermouth for me” person. 

9diDANTE Inferno Rosso Vermouth di Torino Superiore IGP 

ABV: 17.5 
SRP:  $33
Grapes: 50/50 Dolcetto/Cortese blend

Artemisia absinthium, cardamom, bitter orange peel, cumin, basil, nettle, tansy, fennel, caraway. 

Appearance:  rhubarb, raspberry olden, golden, red/gold like copper river salmon, brackish, translucent  

Aroma:sweet cherry, raspberry, fennel, mint, baking spices, orange clove potpourri, sweet cherry, raspberry, fennel, mint, baking spices, orange clove potpourri, 

Palate: Lovely! Make a Negroni with it! rich like a port, sweeter, bitter, lots of orange on the finish, mouthwatering orange pith, sweeter and more bitter — like marmalade 

Pairing: Biscotti and strawberries make a nice accompaniment — bitters are tamed, and the orange bitters enhance the flavors of the strawberry and the biscotti. Try chocolate lava cake with orange peel — or any orange chocolate dessert. Or dip biscotti in chocolate — and orange oil. Vermouth can pair fabulously with food. 

Cocktail:

Amaro Mezgroni Smoked Cherries Cocktail: 
1 pt Amaro,
1 pt red vermouth,
1 pt mezcal,
squeeze half Meyer lemon,
garnish with dried citrus 

Great before or after dinner don’t need food just enjoy!

Hmm is it wine-thirty yet? I think I need to make me one of these now! I bet it will go great with our dinner of tamales with mole sauce! 

And I tell you, I am ready to say so long and fly to Milano and visit Torino for more VERMOUTH! 

Check out these additional low ABV cocktail options below:

Negroni Sbagliato | https://www.9didante.com/en/negroni-sbagliato-recipe

Grapefruit Americano | https://www.9didante.com/en/grapefruit-americano-recipe

Dante’s 9th Garibaldi | https://www.9didante.com/en/dantes-garibaldi-recipe

Vermouth Cocktail | https://www.9didante.com/en/vermouth-cocktail

Go here for more 9diDANTE vermouth-based cocktail recipes.