Dry Vermouth

Dry vermouth is the pale, crisp, barely-sweet French style of aromatized fortified wine — the classic "French vermouth" of Marseillan and Chambéry. Built on a light, neutral white base wine that is fortified with grape spirit and infused with wormwood and a tangle of alpine and Mediterranean botanicals, it carries almost no sugar and sits at roughly 16 to 18 percent alcohol. In the glass it is water-white to the faintest straw, light and bracing, with a dry, saline, subtly bitter palate and aromas of green herbs, chamomile, citrus peel, gentian and delicate white flowers over a quiet wine base. It is drunk ice-cold as an aperitif with a twist of lemon, but its most famous role is as the essential modifier of the dry Martini, where a splash lifts and dries out the gin or vodka.