Tasting notes
Vya:
Quady Winery in the Central Valley town of Madera has been producing vermouth under the Vya label, since 1999. Their Extra Dry Vermouth ($14/375ml, 17%) is dominated by pine resin, with sweet honeysuckle and lavender in the background. It’s cooling and goes down easy. The Sweet Vermouth ($14/
375ml, 16%) is even more aggressively herbal, smelling of licorice and rhubarb. That bitter quality mingles nicely with sweet stone fruit flavors and rich notes of cinnamon, nutmeg and clove.
Massican:
Winemaker Dan Petroski bases his vermouth on the Tocai Friulano grape, blending it with other Massican white wines. Each year it’s a little different; hence the vintage dating. Since 2015, he has worked with St. George Spirits in Alameda to distill his own brandy from Massican wine for the vermouth’s fortification — likely the first in California to make a 100 percent in-house artisan vermouth. Petroski’s 2014 Vermouth di Friulano ($20/750ml, 15%), though much juicier and rounder than the 2013, is still spiky and herbal, tasting of bay leaf, pink peppercorn and pine needle, coated with jasmine and kiwi.
Alysian:
Third-generation winemaker Woody Ham- brecht runs his family’s Alysian winery in Healds- burg, and started making vermouth in 2013 when he found himself with a bumper crop on his hands. He teamed up with bartender Heather Hawkins, formerly of Prizefighter and LihoLiho Yacht Club, to create the tinctures (all from Sonoma County plants) that aroma- tize their vermouth. Alysian’s gold-colored Bittersweet Vermouth Bianco ($32/750ml, 17.5%) is full-bodied, with soft herb qualities on the nose — tarragon and thyme — balanced by generous fruit. It moves across the palate gracefully, opening with hon- eysuckle and coconut, its acid edges amplifying the star anise-tinged bitterness near the backpalate.
Sutton Cellars:
Carl Sutton made his name on his mellow, earthy Brown Label Vermouth ($20/750ml, 17%). Oxidative and nutty, it verges on a meaty aspect — like an umami-rich soy note. Neither particularly herbal nor fruity, it tastes primarily of chamomile. Recently, Sutton released a much edgier, more savory new vermouth: The 27th Letter ($24.99/ 750ml, 17%), based on rosé wine instead of white. Rust-colored and cloudy, it explodes with pine resin, accompanied by a crushed red berry character. For those ready to graduate to Sutton’s level two.
Lo-Fi:
This collaboration between Gallo and Quaker City Mercantile (maker of Hendrick’s Gin and Sailor Jerry Rum) debuted in 2016. The Dry Vermouth ($24.99/750ml, 16.5%) is on the sweeter side of dry, marked by cotton candy and juicy tropical fruit. Cherry wafts on the nose, with gently bitter anise and fennel flavors poking through; it’s an ultra-accessible introduction for those not enthralled with savory, pine-forward options. Lo-Fi’s Sweet Vermouth ($24.99/750ml, 16.5%), whose base includes cream Sherry in addition to white wine, is dense and confectionary, with clove, pine and cinnamon flavors.
Matthiasson:
The Vermouth No. 2 ($35/375ml, 17%) from Napa’s Matthiasson winery is the outlier here. A non-vintage blend of 2012, 2013 and 2014 wine from the Flora grape — a hybrid crossing of Semillon and Gewurtztraminer, created by UC Davis in the 1950s and very sparsely planted — it’s also the most dessert wine-like of the vermouths in this tasting. Matthiasson’s is ambercolored and apricot-scented, dense and viscous on the palate with tropical fruit. Rich with nutmeg and citrus, and much fruitier than it is bitter.