This Summer, Pause for the Vermouth Hour

BCN Ambre Vermut “Mut” Terra Alta, 18 percent, $39

BCN “Mut,” from Catalonia in northeastern Spain, is made with garnacha blanca, or white grenache, macerated with a wide variety of herbs and spices. Some you can detect in this lovely, slightly sweet yet bitter and savory vermouth: clove, cinnamon, fennel, some sort of citrus. This is a superb example of a classic, modern Spanish vermouth, if that’s not an oxymoron, just right as an aperitif over ice, with a thin orange slice. (De Maison Selections)

Barbichette/Forthave New York L’Amer Vermouth Lot 21, 15 percent, $42

Like quinquina, L’Amer is a modest variation on vermouth with a touch of bitterness that makes it taste almost like a combination of vermouth and amaro. This is a collaboration between Barbichette, a natural wine producer that vinifies New York grapes in Brooklyn, and Forthave, a Brooklyn distillery that makes Marseille, a superb amaro, among other things. It’s made with seyval blanc grapes macerated with myriad botanicals, resulting in an amber colored vermouth that’s a little sweet, a little bitter and very refreshing.

Chinati Vergano Vermouth Bianco Piemonte, 16 percent, $45

This white vermouth from the Piedmont region of Italy is richer and sweeter than the Spanish selections in this list, yet nonetheless well-balanced and refreshing, complex and herbal, tasting very much like oregano. It’s made from a base of moscato and cortese. (Louis/Dressner Selections, New York)

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