Punt E Mes Vermouth

Punt e Mes is made by Carpano, the Turin house whose founder Antonio Benedetto Carpano created the modern vermouth formula in 1786 from herbs, spices and Muscat wine. The name, Piedmontese for a point and a half, recalls the cafe custom of adjusting sweetness and bitterness to order, this style fixing an extra half point of bitterness into the blend. It is built on a wine base in the traditional method, macerated with a broad set of botanicals in which cinchona bark is central, the source of its pronounced quinine bitterness, alongside wormwood and warm baking spices. Sweetening balances the bitter extract, and the result is defined by the tension between the two rather than by fruit. The colour is orange with topaz tones. The nose offers medicinal herbs, cinchona and clove. The entry is initially sweet, then gives way to the deep, characteristic bitterness that holds through a long finish. Serve chilled at 8 to 10C over ice with an orange slice, or stir into a Negroni or Manhattan where its bitterness shows well.