The Top 100 Vermouth Producers in the World

Vermouth is having its best decade in a hundred years, and it is no longer just Turin and Chambéry doing the talking. Spain rediscovered la hora del vermut. Australia built a new-wave scene from native botanicals. England — ahem — got properly good at it. What follows is our guide to 100 vermouth producers worth knowing right now, from the giants who invented the category to the single-vineyard obsessives who are reinventing it.

Full disclosure, in the spirit of how we do everything: we wrote this list and we are on it. We think that is fairer than pretending someone else put us there. The other 99 earned their places on merit — through competition records, critical coverage and the simple test of being poured in good bars. We have grouped producers by country rather than ranking them 1 to 100, because ranking Dolin against a Galician albariño vermouth is a fool's errand, and we are only occasionally fools.

Italy — where vermouth was born

Turin invented commercial vermouth in the 18th century, and Piedmont still sets the standard. Vermouth di Torino now carries protected geographical status (IGP), and the region hosts everyone from the world's biggest names to one-man revivalists.

• Carpano — Turin heritage, now made in Milan under Fratelli Branca. Antonio Benedetto Carpano is traditionally credited with inventing commercial red vermouth in 1786. Home of Punt e Mes and Antica Formula.
• Martini & Rossi — Pessione, Piedmont. The world's best-known vermouth house, founded 1863, now part of Bacardi. The Riserva Speciale Rubino and Ambrato bottlings show the serious side of a mass-market giant.
• Cinzano — dating to 1757 and one of the oldest names in the category, now owned by Campari Group.
• Cocchi — Asti winery founded by Giulio Cocchi, whose Storico Vermouth di Torino led the modern revival of the true Torino style from 2011.
• Gancia — Canelli house producing vermouth since around 1850.
• Contratto — historic Piedmont sparkling-wine producer whose 19th-century vermouth recipes are back in production.
• Mancino — bartender Giancarlo Mancino's vermouths, produced in Canelli. The Bianco Ambrato is a modern classic.
• Vermouth del Professore — revivalist Torino-style vermouths made with the Jerry Thomas Speakeasy in Rome.
• Chazalettes — Turin house with a royal warrant from the House of Savoy; its Rosso della Regina is one of the few vermouths built on red wine (a habit we approve of).
• Mauro Vergano — Asti chemist-turned-blender making tiny quantities of cult-status vermouth and chinato.
• Riserva Carlo Alberto — Torino-style vermouths built on Erbaluce di Caluso and Moscato d'Asti wines.
• Martelletti — Cocconato producer of a well-regarded Vermouth Classico.
• Antica Distilleria Quaglia — Piedmont distillery behind the Berto vermouth line.
• Baldoria — modern brand producing Vermouth di Torino with an unusually wide range of expressions.
• Bordiga — Cuneo distillery working with alpine botanicals since 1888.
• D.co Ulrich — historic Turin name recently revived.
• Montanaro — Piedmont distillery producing Vermouth di Torino alongside its grappa.
• Scarpa — respected Piedmont winery with a vermouth line stocked internationally.
• Cucielo — modern Vermouth di Torino with wide international distribution.
• Perlino — large Asti producer of vermouth and sparkling wine.
• La Canellese — family vermouth house in Calamandrana, Piedmont.
• Garrone — Piedmont vermouth producer with a long regional history.
• Cora — one of the great historic Torino houses, first to export vermouth to the United States in 1838, now owned by Bosca.
• Boissiere — originally a Chambéry brand, today a Torino-made vermouth for export markets.
• Stock — Trieste distiller applying its brand to a broad range including vermouth.
• Villa Massa — Sorrento house better known for limoncello, with a sweet vermouth in its range.
• Alessio — late-19th-century-style vermouths produced in Italy for Tempus Fugit Spirits.
• Drapò — Turin Vermouth's flagship line, made in the city the category calls home.
• Antica Torino — small revivalist producer working with Piedmontese botanicals.
• Starlino — Torino aperitif and vermouth house with strong UK retail presence.
• The Piedmont deep bench — travellers in Turin will also meet names that rarely leave the region: Barona, Chatel, Nando, Melchior, Ponti, Rica Donna and Romanetti among them. Proof that in Piedmont, vermouth is what wine is to the rest of Italy. (7 producers)

France — the dry masters

• Dolin — Chambéry, holder of the Appellation d'Origine, and the house credited with commercialising the blanc style in the late 19th century. The benchmark for delicate dry vermouth.
• Noilly Prat — Marseillan. Joseph Noilly originated the dry vermouth style around 1813; the barrels still sit outside in the Mediterranean sun.
• Routin — the vermouth line of Distillerie des Alpes in Chambéry, built on alpine botanicals.
• La Quintinye Vermouth Royal — made in Charente on a base of pineau des Charentes, which no one else does.
• Lillet — Podensac, Bordeaux. Strictly a quinquina rather than a vermouth — but every Martini drinker asks, so here it is.

Spain — the vermut renaissance

Spain drinks vermouth like nowhere else on earth — cold, from the tap, with olives and anchovies, at one o'clock in the afternoon. Reus in Catalonia has been the heartland for over a century, and a new generation has turned la hora del vermut into a national revival.

• Yzaguirre — Reus, founded 1884. The oldest Spanish brand still in production and the quintessential rojo.
• Miró — Reus. One of the biggest houses in Spain, and a World Vermouth Awards world's-best winner with its Gran Reserva.
• De Muller — Reus's historic third house, famous for solera-aged reserva vermouth inspired by its rancio wines.
• Padró & Co — family house in Bràfim, Tarragona, with its own vermouth visitor centre.
• Perucchi — Catalonia, founded in the 19th century by D. Augustus Perucchi.
• Martínez Lacuesta — Haro, Rioja. Its Reserva ages in small new barrels like the house's wines.
• Lustau — Jerez. Sherry royalty making vermouth from amontillado sweetened with Pedro Ximénez.
• Cruz Conde — Montilla-Moriles, building vermouth on solera-aged oloroso.
• Roberto Amillo — Jerez boutique bottler working with 18-year-old oloroso.
• Priorat Natur — the Falset Marça cooperative's vermouth, aged in a two-barrel sistema de madre that still holds traces of its first vermouth from over a century ago.
• St. Petroni — Galicia. Albariño-based, coloured with hibiscus.
• Golfo — Ribera del Duero winemaker Cillar de Silos's old-vine tempranillo vermouth.
• Luna — Catalonia. Maceration follows the lunar calendar; xarel·lo base; six to nine months in red wine barrels.
• Atxa — Basque Country. Fruit-forward rojo with a strong cherry character.
• Zarro — Madrid, and the first vermouth certified organic by the European Union.
• El Bandarra — Barcelona's poster child for the modern vermut wave.
• Osborne — the El Puerto de Santa María sherry giant, with a rojo in its range.
• Casals — Catalan rojo with international distribution.

United Kingdom — the new establishment

English wine got serious, and English vermouth followed. Declaration of interest: this is our home turf.

• Asterley Bros — that's us: two brothers in a South London workshop. Our ESTATE sweet vermouth is built on Gusbourne English Pinot Noir with 31 botanicals — one of very few vermouths anywhere made on red wine rather than dyed white. Our SCHOFIELD'S dry is made with the Schofield brothers of Manchester bar fame.
• Sacred Spirits — Highgate, London. Its Spiced English Vermouth (with Somerset-grown wormwood) is among the most awarded English vermouths.
• The London Vermouth Company — small-batch London producer of the No.3 South East Dry.
• Vault Aperitivo — English producer of the Coastal Dry and Forest Red vermouths.
• The Aperitivo Co — UK maker working in Spanish styles, including a Reus-style blanco.
• Knightor — Cornish winery whose rosé and white vermouths are stocked nationally.
• Bolney Wine Estate — Sussex winery with a rosso vermouth in its range.
• Albourne Estate — Sussex winery making a vermouth with 40 botanicals.
• Rathfinny — Sussex wine estate with its own vermouth line.
• Albury Organic Vineyard — Surrey organic vineyard producing English vermouth.
• Tuffon Hall — Essex vineyard with a vermouth in its range.
• Giffords Hall — Suffolk vineyard producing vermouth alongside its wines.
• Great British Vermouth Co — Scottish producer of the Wermod line.
• Poulton Hill Estate — Gloucestershire vineyard making English vermouth.

Germany

• Belsazar — Black Forest fruit meets Berlin polish; the brand that put German vermouth on the map.
• Ferdinand's — the Saar, where riesling meets a gin distiller's botanical instincts.

United States — the new world experiment

American producers mostly ignore the European rulebook — many skip wormwood entirely and build "western dry" aperitif wines instead. The results are their own thing, and often brilliant.

• Vya (Quady Winery) — Madera, California. Entered vermouth in the 1990s; the category's American pioneer.
• Atsby — New York vermouths on Long Island chardonnay, fortified with apple brandy.
• Ransom — Sheridan, Oregon distillery making small-production traditional-style vermouths.
• Imbue Cellars — Portland, Oregon. Pinot gris-based artisan aperitif wines.
• Sutton Cellars — San Francisco's brown-label western dry.
• Uncouth Vermouth — Brooklyn locavore producer of wildly unconventional editions (butternut squash vermouth exists, and it is their fault).
• Lo-Fi Aperitifs — California collaboration between E&J Gallo and Quaker City Mercantile; botanicals itemised on the label.
• Channing Daughters — Long Island winery whose VerVino series brought winemaker credibility to American vermouth.
• Gallo — the mass-market standby since 1933.
• Tribuno — founded New York 1938, mid-century America's other vermouth, now made by The Wine Group.
• Kedem — the long-running kosher vermouth name from Royal Wine Corp.

Australia — the native botanical wave

Australia's new wave uses native botanicals nobody in Turin has heard of, on wines from some of the country's best small producers.

• Maidenii — Victoria. The benchmark Australian house, with Australian-grown wormwood and native botanicals.
• Regal Rogue — NSW. Native-botanical vermouths built for spritzing.
• Castagna — Beechworth biodynamic winery with a classic dry vermouth.
• Saison — small-batch seasonal vermouths (spring rhubarb, fallen quinces).
• Naturi — rosso, dry and spritz-focused vermouths.
• Elixyr Botanica — bianco and rosé vermouths.
• Billy Button — Alpine Valleys winery with a vermentino-based dry.
• Hughes & Hughes — Tasmanian winery vermouth.
• Commune of Buttons — Adelaide Hills natural-wine family's vermut.
• Future Perfect Wines — maker of the Bitter Moon vermouth.

And the rest of the world

• La Fuerza — Mendoza, Argentina. The flag-bearer for South American vermut and a cult export.
• Caperitif (AA Badenhorst) — Swartland, South Africa. The revived "Kaapse Dief" — the lost Cape aperitif wine of pre-war cocktail books, brought back by one of South Africa's great winemakers.
• Azaline — saffron-forward modern vermouth stocked by the major UK specialists.

How we chose these 100

No secret algorithm: competition records (the World Vermouth Awards, IWSC and friends), critical coverage in the publications that take vermouth seriously, presence in the specialist retailers that actually stock the category in depth, and — where we know the producers — how the liquid drinks. Vermouth is a living category; producers emerge, vanish and revive constantly, so we review this list periodically. Spotted someone who deserves a place? Tell us at info@asterleybros.com.

Frequently asked questions

Which country has the most vermouth producers?

Italy — and within Italy, Piedmont. Turin invented commercial vermouth in the 18th century and Vermouth di Torino now has protected status (IGP). Spain runs it close by volume of producers, with Reus in Catalonia as its historic heartland.

What are the biggest vermouth brands in the world?

Martini & Rossi, Cinzano and Carpano (maker of Punt e Mes and Antica Formula) are the giants, followed by the major French houses Noilly Prat and Dolin.

Who makes vermouth in England?

A growing field: Asterley Bros in South London (that's us — sweet vermouth on Gusbourne English Pinot Noir), Sacred Spirits in Highgate, The London Vermouth Company, and a wave of English wine estates including Bolney, Albourne, Rathfinny, Albury, Tuffon Hall and Giffords Hall.

What makes a "top" vermouth producer?

For this list: competition results, critical coverage, specialist-retailer presence and the quality of the liquid. We deliberately did not rank 1–100 — styles vary too much for a single ladder to mean anything.

Thirsty after all that? Start where we did: ESTATE English Sweet Vermouth — English Pinot Noir, 31 botanicals, made by hand in South London.