Noilly Prat Original Dry Vermouth

Staple vermouth that I always keep around for use in cooking. Okay for use in the occasional quick martini.

12.31.21 Served: Rocks Bottle Open: Unknown (Bar) Aroma: Oxidative sherry and herbs. Taste: Sherry, oregano, tomato. Not quite the herbal bomb that is dolin rouge, the oregano and tomato are very suppressed. Pronounced bitter finish, which I look for in a vermouth. Not offensive, just boring for vermouth. Bottle may have been improperly kept. Need to try again.

Rating: 8/23 N: The nose has a good, characteristic dry vermouth scent behind it, but it has no complexity. For many mixers, that isn't actually a problem. However, for dry vermouth, it most certainly is. The key here is that dry vermouth goes into martinis, which only have one other ingredient (and it's usually a pretty light one), so there isn't anything to mask the flatness. The nose here is sort of a sweet tartness like myer's lemon, with a bit of a floral hint and some more richness, kind of like preserved lemon, but without the salt. That's it. P: It's lighter and less tart up front than the nose suggests, but more tartness comes out as it progresses. There's a lot of minerality throughout. There's an underlying bitterness that suggests something herbal, but doesn't come to much. That's what I characterized as preserved lemon on the nose. I get that same sweet myer's lemon tartness here and it forms a really nice base layer, but there's nothing built on top of it. Honestly, that's about it here. F: The lemon linger, trending toward bitterness that at times approaches grapefruit. There's mineral as well. Nothing really pops out here. It's just bland and a bit bitter. Unfortunately, I really can't recommend this. The flavor is fine enough, but there just isn't anything going on here. It's kind of a big braaap. It's not bad, to be clear. I could certainly make it through a glass, but I wouldn't do so except to be polite. Tragically, I think that this is going to be an 8.

11: My first impression is in a martini and it sure saved a bad (well, at least totally generic and uninspiring) gin from making it a miserable experience. This being Noilly Prat, I expect some somewhat odd but decently complex and full flavors. The nose has some apple, but also some bring like it was subtly folded in with olives and some melted cheese with tomato sauce on a pizza. It took me a while to figure they out, but this smells just like a pizza! The palate brings one of that character too, though obviously it doesn't have the same fullness. There's also some more emphasis on the general white wine aspect. Still, on the whole, I stand by my pizza description. There's definitely down fruitiness, which at best borders on a sauternes, but that pizza character is inescapable. Cheese pizza with apple and sauternes. Weird. I can't say I like it, but I guess it's fine if it works well for mixing. I'll have to go below a 12 and settle on a 10 here. I don't hate this, but it definitely needs to be mixed it be consumed. Maybe refrigeration will help. Noilly Prat Rouge (refrigerated) is substantially better just on its own.

Clean and crisp white wine flavor, some bitter in the finish. Light body, not much else there. Works for mixing cocktails.