Turin - Where is the Vermouth?
I'd been to Turin once before, in 2012, pretty much just to break up a train journey from London to Venice. At that time I was just starting to take an interest in Italian cocktails, and it hadn't really occurred to me to go seeking out places to drink vermouth in the city. Looking back though, I also don't have any recollection of it being particularly ubiquitous, certainly not in the way, say, the Spritz is in Venice.
Ahead of this trip I'd done some more research on the web, assuming that there must be bars specialising in vermouth here, this being the home of the drink. There was surprisingly little evidence of any. Anselmo, a new vermouth brand, did apparently have a bar here, but it closed earlier this year.
As I was struggling a bit to find bars which sold vermouth in Turin, I thought I’d try a different tack, and look instead for shops which might take a bit more pride in their local product. I'd gone and hopefully skulked around outside the headquarters of Carpano, the rather grand Palazzo Asinari di San Marzano, thinking there might be something like a shop or a visitor's centre, but there seemed to be no access and all I managed was this peek through the gate as it was closing. This seemed like a perfect analogy for vermouth in Turin - you know it's there, but for some reason it's kept behind closed doors.
Ahead of this trip I'd done some more research on the web, assuming that there must be bars specialising in vermouth here, this being the home of the drink. There was surprisingly little evidence of any. Anselmo, a new vermouth brand, did apparently have a bar here, but it closed earlier this year.
As I was struggling a bit to find bars which sold vermouth in Turin, I thought I’d try a different tack, and look instead for shops which might take a bit more pride in their local product. I'd gone and hopefully skulked around outside the headquarters of Carpano, the rather grand Palazzo Asinari di San Marzano, thinking there might be something like a shop or a visitor's centre, but there seemed to be no access and all I managed was this peek through the gate as it was closing. This seemed like a perfect analogy for vermouth in Turin - you know it's there, but for some reason it's kept behind closed doors.
Having looked around for some enoteca on the web, I eventually decided I might give Eataly a go, a sort of gourmet supermarket, which has a fairly large wine, beer and spirits section - the whole of the basement in fact.
Here, finally, I encountered a bit more success. They have a whole shelf of vermouths as you enter the cellar, and although it wasn't the countless tiny producers I'd hoped to uncover, there were at least a handful of brands represented here, with at least a couple of different vermouths from each, including:
I bought a bottle of Carlo Alberto’s bitter aperitivo, and also intended to buy a bottle of their red vermouth - excited at the prospect of having two thirds of an alternative Negroni. It was only when I got back to my hotel I realised I’d accidentally picked up the white instead. What I found particularly impressive about Carlo Alberto is that they list the ingredients on the back of their vermouths. Here’s all 26 botanicals for the white: Achillea, Star Anise, Bitter Orange, Sweet Orange, Cherry, Raspberry, Absinthe EM, Cardamon, Ceredigion, China, Coriander, Tarragon, Tonka Bean, Carnation Ch, Gentian, Lemon, Marjoram, Mandarin, Mint, Nutmeg, Quassia, Rhubarb, Wild Rose, Vanilla, Violet.
Still, the question remains, why is Turin not making a bit more of a show of one of its famous products? It has the grand caffe bars, it has the culture of aperitivo - and yet they seem to be serving almost entirely "imported" drinks (at least from other parts of Italy), and, judging by my experience of trying the aperitivo della casa, in many cases with pretty crappy ingredients.
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