Recently saw several different bottlings of Sirene Aperitivo on the shelves, and wondered if @Oliver_McCrum could provide some descriptions and info on these? They sound really interesting, packaging is beautiful, and I assume if Oliver is involved, they are high quality.
Hi Alan,
Sorry I missed this, I haven’t been frequenting this side of Berserk, I need to start. Thank you for the compliment!
Elisa Carta, the proprietor of La Sirena, is from the east side of Lake Garda, around Monte Baldo. There is a recently revived tradition of cultivating herbs in this area, and Elisa is fascinated by the study of herbs and other botanicals. I believe some of her recipes were handed down in her family.
The Aperitivo is an Americano, which is to say it’s like vermouth but with gentian as the bittering agent, rather than wormwood. She does all of her own infusions, and the base wine is Trebbiano di Lugana rather than some industrial swill. I like it a lot, and my wife is addicted to it in a spritz, which we have now put on our cocktail list as the Moglie Contenta (‘Happy Wife’).
There’s some background about the producer and a tech sheet on our website, if you’re still curious. Or just drop me a line at oliver at omwines.com.