Appearance: Dark sienna brown. Not cloudy, but too dark to see through even against a strong light. Aroma: Aged red wine, dried orange peel, dark musty cinnamon powder, cloves. Flavour and Texture: The entry has a sweet aged wine character that is reminiscent of Pasubio and other wine based amari. Initially it is almost honey-sweet but after a few seconds on the tongue bitter herbal and sour berry flavours become apparent, and these build on the palate over time. Sloe-gin, prunes, dark sour cherries, baking spices and a lingering tinge of faint hot spice. The texture is full and rich. This is made by Carpano, the same company that makes the excellent Antica Formula 1786 vermouth, however where Antica has a luscious, soft and sweet palate this is much more bitter and has a similarity to Campari. Technically this is a vermouth, but it’s a strongly aromatised one and in reality it falls somewhere between vermouth, aromatised red wine and amari. This is hardly surprising as it is exactly what the creators intended. Introduced 150 years ago, this is a compelling base for long drinks and is well worth trying as a variation from your usual vermouth in mixed drinks. It works particularly well in a Negroni. Mixed in equal proportions with prosecco and soda water it makes a very good spritz with a full, almost earthy quality that is unlike lighter fruit-forward aparitivi. When mixed with lemonade and soda it is very like chinotto soft drink. As the bittering agents here are mostly quinine and bitter orange peel, for a really solid bittersweet drink try 2 oz of this with 4 oz of tonic water and a slice of orange. Good value, versatile and interesting – well worth a try. “Above Average” : 82/100 (3.25 stars)