A smooth and complex vermouth from the Occitan Alps of western Piemonte. Bordiga makes products of finesse, like this Rosso, a medium-sweet vermouth with an autumnal feel. Excellent on its own or to accompany bright distillates. The Bordiga family is the gold standard for refined vermouth. With a long history in the Cuneo hills of western Piemonte, they produce complex distillates, vermouth and cordials from foraged botanicals individually macerated and aged like wine. I visited them in 2022 and managing director Riccardo kindly walked me through every stage of the process while I tasted over a dozen botanicals in various stages of maceration.
VINIFICATION: The botanical flavorings are macerated in pure grain alcohol that has been distilled three times for purity. They are infused individually, not all together, because different botanicals have different requirements for the best extraction of essential oils. Once all the extractions have been done, the infusions are added to the base wine, and the mixture is left for 10 days before the sugar (Italian or French beet sugar) is added; then that mixture is left for 5-6 days before being cold stabilized. In the old days, cold stabilization was achieved by moving the tanks outside during the winter, but nowadays
