Care for an aperitif?

Each week in this space, we better our beverages together.

The aperitif hour has been hobbled by a lot of obstacles in North America. We’re not used to sipping just one drink and then calling it quits, so a pitstop after work and before driving doesn’t often occur to us. The fortified and flavoured wines enjoyed across the Mediterranean for after-work, pre-dinner imbibing are often challenging to palates raised on Wonder Bread. And last and most important, it simply isn’t part of Canadian culture to pop into a bar for a single glass of something and a snack at 5 p.m., unless you live in the heart of Montreal. (And kudos to that lovely city for maintaining its lively cinq-a-sept tradition.)

Yet Canadian bartenders are awakening to the pleasures of the European-style apéro or aperitivo break, and I’m sure their bosses see the wisdom in ushering in the customers between the hours of five-ish and seven for a quick pick-meup, too — the better to keep the premises bustling and profitable. Thanks to the apéro trend, I predict you’ll be seeing a lot more drinks with lower alcohol content in future: either fortified and flavoured wines like sherry and Lillet, or cocktails built around them. Aiding the cause, Canadians have recently been graced the arrival of products from Cocchi (pronounced “cokey”), a Piedmontese purveyor of sparkling wines, vermouth, and what it calls “Americanos” — bitter before-dinner flavoured wines that you’re meant to dilute with ice, sparkling water and a twist of citrus. These Americanos, an original and a “rosa,” are something like a cross between Aperol and Lillet, in case you’re familiar with those. But here’s the thing about Cocchi, and why I think its arrival is important: These are quite high-end, refined aperitivos they’re slinging, and I think it’s an auspicious sign that the importer thinks Canada is ready for them.

Well, I’m ready, anyway. To me, both Cocchi Americano, in the original yellow hue, and Cocchi Americano Rosa (similar but pink, thanks to red grapes) offer the expected sweetness and herbal bitterness, with a special degree of complexity and balance. I also get the distinct musk of cigar tobacco — in a good way, I promise. The vermouth, meanwhile, is quite bitter but with caramel and marshmallow notes to soften it. It’s hard to imagine every North American going in for this stuff, but Cocchi will not shift to meet our tastes; we must adapt to Italy’s. Over a round at Toronto’s Northern Belle this week, Cocchi’s Roberto Bava promised me the formulas haven’t changed for many decades. “It’s easier to save a church than a flavour,” he observed.

Selected Cocchi products are available (or will be soon) to consumers in British Columbia, Alberta, Quebec and Nova Scotia; most of the stuff will be in the neighbourhood of about $30 a bottle. In Ontario, where the liquor board is often slow to get with the times, you can only get Cocchi products in restaurants and bars for now. On the positive side, what better excuse to stop in for a quick one?