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Jtalian
BY
CESARE
CONTI
Vermouth
Président
Italo-American
Stores
New
York
Italian
V
erinouth
is
nndoubtedly
the
best
known
and
most
largely
consumed
vinous
liquor
used
in
the
préparation
of
niixed
drinks.
With
this
liqnor
is
so
identified
the
city
of
Turin,
where
it
is
chiefly
prepared,
that
its
name
has
be-
come
familiar
as
the
home
of
Vermouth
par
excel-
lence.
Vermouth
is,
practically,
a
good
white
wine,
chiefly
Muscat,
aromatized
with
the
addition
of
the
extract
from
certain
aro-
matic
herbs,
fortified
with
pure
wine
spirits
to
a
strength
vary-
ing
from
fifteen
to
seveDteen
per
cent,
by
volume,
sweetened
with
pure
sugar,
so
as
to
brin
g
its
saccharimetric
contents
at
from
twelve
to
eighteen
per
cent.
It
dérives
its
name,
of
Teutonic
origin,
from
the
word
"Wermut,"
which
stands
in
the
German
language
for
the
Eng-
lish
"wormwood,"
one
of
the
aromatic
herbs
which
is
more
or
less
conspicuous
in
ail
the
formulas
for
its
préparation.
There
are
many
other
herbs
and
spices
entering
into
the
composition
of
the
extract
added
to
wine
in
the
préparation
of
Vermouth,
which
vary
according
to
formula.
Of
thèse,
there
are
as
many,
we
might
say,
as
leaves
in
Vallombrosa,
each
maker
having
his
own
particular
formula,
which
is
naturally
guarded
as
a
trade
secret.
Although
wormwood
figures
in
ail
formulas,
it
must
be
noted
that
the
parts
of
the
plant
used
are
not
the
leaves,
nor
the
stems,
which
contain
the
essential
oil
of
wormwood
or
absinthol,
but
the
flowers,
or
better,
the
inflorescences
which
contain,
in-
stead
of
the
essential
oil,
an
entirely
unobjectionable
aromatic
principle,
known
as
absinthine,
recognized
by
the
pharmacopœa
as
a
useful
tonic.
The
custom
of
infusing
aromatic
ingrédients
into
wine,
in
order
to
enhance
its
hygienic
value,
dates
from
the
remotest
times.
Mention
is
made
of
such
wines
by
Pliny,
and
Cicero
alludes
to
an
"ahsinthiatum
vinum"
wiiich
must
have
been
something
on
the
lines
of
Vermouth,
but,
of
course,
not
so
improved
and
harmonious
in
its
composition
as
the
article
of
the
présent
day.
Vermouth
wine
is
a
liquor
of
a
rather
deep
golden
color,
of