Vergano Americano Aperitif 750ml (Previously $45)

The last time I was at my favorite neighborhood spot for cocktails, Bar Agricole, I was given a "York" cocktail, which is probably one of the simplest, yet profoundly delicious concoctions I have had to date, consisting of Chinato shaken with fresh lime juice and served up in a darling vintage 3.5 oz cocktail glass. The flavors of cranberry, orange and herbal flavors of the vermouth really pop while the bitterness is softened when mixed with the citric lime juice. I use the Vergano Americano to make this cocktail at home; it is an aperitif-style vermouth and thus lighter, fruitier (and much less expensive) than the digestif Barolo Chinato, and does the trick just fine for an appetite-whetting drink. It is also tasty served on the rocks, or with sparkling water and a twist of orange.

This is a fun, tasty, kind hippogryph of an aromatized wine. The wines body reads as vermouth, however the flavorings take it in a more dry, woodsy, spicy, cigar tobacco direction. You can get a pretty fair cocktail just substituting it for vermouth in a Manhattan and leaving out the bitters. It's definitely a tinkering candidate for closet bartenders out there and I'd wager would appeal to those with a taste for Carpano Antico and/or Gran Classico.

This is a really fantastic aperitif. Anyone who enjoys drinks with a bitter component owes it to themselves to try out this one! To make the best Negroni I've ever tasted, I use 1.5 parts Vergano Americano, 1 part Blade Gin, and 0.5 part Dolin Rouge Vermouth.