PRIORAT NATUR VERMUT
OVERALL: Creamy vanilla tone thanks to Garnacha Blanca base wine; not too sweet; relatively low 16% ABV; strong focus on quinine/wormwood flavor; other spices only show through on the finish;
So after successfully acquiring so much Vermouth I naturally had to open one up for tasting. I chose this one as I had a hankering for a white Vermouth. As you can see, it’s a nice golden brown in the glass which probably comes from the Pedro Ximenez. I am first struck by the smooth texture and creamy vanilla and melon flavors that are reminiscent of Chateauneuf du Pape Blanc and Remelluri white Rioja. This has a very nice texture and unlike the Nordesia above, the terroir of the grape does come through. There’s also some Macabeo and Pedro Ximenez in there as well.
The wine is not too sweet and has a strong wormwood quinine flavor that immediately reminded me of Byrrh. This worried me initially as I found the Byrrh a bit one-dimensional and feared this was simply a white version of it. However, the other spices did indeed come through on the finish.
One note of interest re: the bottling. I had a bit of a surprise when I opened the bottle as removing the foil and cap reveals that the bottle has its own pour spout, ready to be used by an expert mixologist in their next cocktail creation. This threw me off as I’ve never encountered this before on any bottled alcoholic drink before, not even spirits. This would seem to be a courtesy that indicates an expectation to use it as a cocktail ingredient. Now what’s interesting is that if you Google up this Vermut, it’s clear that the producer views this as a Vermut that should be savored on its own as either an aperitif or a dessert accompaniment and I would strongly agree. So why the pour spout? Just seems a little contradictory to me.
This is a nice Vermut that requires just a little bit of your focus as the full package doesn’t really hit you until the spices show up on the finish. Until then it’s very quinine focused. I like the choice of wine for the base as well, much better effect that the Albarino grapes used in the Nordesia.
