“Vermouth is friends, family, conversation, the complicity of sunny Sundays on the terrace of a bar. Those moments in which life, for an instant, passes little by little”. The definition is from the Vinari Awards, which have been rewarding the best Catalan vermouths for 9 years now. They also say that “they are that and much more, but at the base of that parenthesis there is always a wide glass with a couple of ice cubes, a slice of orange or lemon and, often, a siphon stream… All this to accompany vermouth, the magic potion that gives strength to friendship”.
From these awards it is stated that the references of Catalan vermouths do not stop growing, especially driven by the entry into this sector of wine-producing wineries and also by the concern of many establishments to have their own vermouth. Although they do not have exact data, the director of the Premis Vinari, sommelier Ramon Roset, estimates that there are currently around fifty vermouth makers in Catalonia and over a hundred references on the market.
Catalan vermouth, which has centenary producers such as Miró (1914), Padró
They have done so in collaboration with the production cellar of the Penedès Maieutiké Winery (a company from La Ràpita de Santa Margarida i els Monjos specializing in the production of flavored drinks and sparkling wines).
The director of the Premis Vinari assures that vermouth, in general, “has more and more followers in our country and, in particular, Catalan vermouths”. He adds that “thanks to their quality, but also to their diversity, they are gaining presence, both in traditional bars where customers have been going to have vermouth for years, and in vermouth bars, establishments that have been created in the last decade with the main purpose of offering to make vermouth to their customers and that is where they offer the most different vermouths to their customers”.
Ramon Roset explains that one of the features that most characterizes Catalan vermouths is “its great diversity, due to the botanicals that each producer uses and that in many cases provides a link between the vermouth and the landscape of its production area.” A separate chapter, he points out, are the innovative vermouths, “those that break with the molds of traditional production formulas, which open up ways of consumption that are different from the traditional ones, especially in the world of cocktails, but also to accompany gastronomy” . They are the result, he believes, “of the innovative spirit of some producers”.
Hand in hand with mixology, vermouth has achieved great popularity. In its essence, it is a sweetened wine-based drink with added alcohol macerated with spices and other botanicals (roots, aromatic plants, flowers…). Its magisterial formulas are, in general, the best kept secret by the producers. It is a drink that comes from far away and that has been in full fashion for a few years.
Hippocrates is credited with creating the first vermouth in history, made up of wine, wormwood and dictamum leaves from Crete. There are those who defend the Italian origin of the red vermouth, and the French in the case of the white. In Reus, however, the world’s first vermouth museum was created. The capital of Baix Camp hosts a collection that is located in a modernist building downtown that preserves the original façade from 1918. They have more than 1,800 bottles, 400 posters, 3,000 labels and hundreds of advertising objects related to vermouth, such as ashtrays, glasses, plates, documents, letters, postcards, trays…
Dos Déus, made in Priorat, has won outstanding wine awards since 2017. They combine tradition and innovation by maturing their vermouths in Jerez or Priorat wine barrels. They use from Galician or American to French oak, with high tostados. Àlex Illa, owner of Priorat Lab, which creates these vermouths in a small distillery-laboratory in Bellmunt del Priorat, says that “we are at the forefront of market preferences by incorporating new products, flavors and unique experiences for consumers”.
They say that they make use of old recipes for “new moments”, and that “more than a winery we are a laboratory with projects linked to both crafts and tradition as well as current and future times”. Àlex Illa affirms that “Catalan vermouth is experiencing a sweet moment”, and that “every day we like to enjoy the sun, the terraces, friends… and food and vermouth is a good pairing for these informal moments”.
He adds, however, that “unfortunately there is still a lot to do.” He also points out that “for many of my friends making vermouth is making a few beers”, and that “many vermouth makers want to compete with beers, but this is, due to costs and volumes, impossible”. He sees with hope that more and more brands that seek quality and innovation are emerging, but he regrets that “if bars continue to bet on vermouth in bulk it will be difficult to change the situation.” Illa also demands more support from the institutions for the sector and more specific regulations.
At Dos Déus they say that their mission is to “produce products with soul, unique, with authentic and natural flavours, and for this we use tradition, barrels, truncated cones, demijohns and our state-of-the-art alembic, Valentina”. They work with natural botanists, ensuring that they are local, “carefully” selected. They came to have a student from the University of Barcelona searching for a few months for all the botanists “that the books say exist in Priorat”. And they create their own extracts. In addition to sweet and dry vermouths (red, white, reserve or smoked), they make elderflower liqueur or magnolia ratafia.
In its last edition, the Vinari Awards awarded the best vermouth in Catalonia to El Raval de Barcelona, ??from Celler Ronadelles de Cornudella de Montsant. In addition, they have awarded their Grand Gold to the vermouths Olave Blanc de Oratvin, Brun del Grup Oliveda and Vermut Xalar de Coca i Fitó.
In this ninth call La Casa del Vermut, from Vermouth Padró, has been proclaimed in the Llotja de Reus as the best vermouth initiative. The best label has been that of Vermut Aire, by Pàkaru
The prize that distinguishes the best vermouth bar has been for Lo Racó del Vermutenc, from La Ràpita (Montsià). It is an establishment that opened its doors in July 2021 and has 65 vermouth references, most of them Catalan, but also from the rest of Spain and some French and Italian. The owner of this place, Adrià Franco, assures that he sells more vermouths than beers, and considers that “Catalan vermouth, in which there are always novelties, is going through a very good moment.”
It is a contest in which the jury, made up of about twenty professionals, blindly tastes the products, without knowing the brand, the manufacturer or the territory of origin of the products. The best white, red, reserve or innovative vermouths are distinguished. Some sixty vermouths from all over Catalonia have participated in these last Vinari Awards. For the tenth edition, they have proposed to hold the largest tasting of Catalan vermouths that has ever been done in history, trying to bring together almost all the vermouths that are made in Catalonia.
