Vecchia Scuola Red Vermouth di Torino IGP

Vecchia Scuola Red Vermouth di Torino IGP

Vecchia Scuola
$35.00

Grape: Glera
Vintage: NV
Type: Red

This dry red Vermouth di Torino IGP represents a traditional low-intervention approach to aromatized fortified wines built on a glera base. The production utilizes high-quality base wine from Piedmont, fortified with neutral grain spirit and sweetened naturally with beet sugar. The winemaking involves blending the fortified base with individually steeped local botanicals including wormwood, gentian, and rhubarb root. Rested undisturbed for two months in neutral stainless steel tanks, this bottling integrates its botanicals cleanly to capture a refined regional character.

It pours a deep amber-red color, releasing a complex bouquet of bright citrus peel, vanilla, cola, and fresh rosemary. A robust, medium-bodied frame balances a juicy, velvety mouthfeel with the mandatory bitterness of wormwood. Sweet flavors of rhubarb root and vanilla blend smoothly across a dense texture. A clean wave of bittersweet acidity runs through the center, keeping the profile fresh and lively. It concludes with a persistent, smoky finish.

Winery

Vecchia Scuola is a Vermouth di Torino project rooted in the notebooks of Carlo Di Luccio, one of the last graduates of the specialist aromatieri course at Alba’s wine school in 1963. The course trained practitioners in the making of vermouth, bitters and liqueurs, combining recipes with hands-on production. Carlo kept his detailed notes and later passed them to his son Domenico, who saw an opportunity to bring that knowledge back into practice rather than leave it as a family archive.

After trials based on those handwritten formulas, Carlo and Domenico selected the recipe that became Vecchia Scuola’s red vermouth. Its identity is tied to Piedmont’s tradition of aromatized wine and the craft of balancing a wine base with botanicals, sweetness and bitterness. This is a vermouth producer rather than a conventional vineyard estate, so its story belongs as much to blending and herbal preparation as to viticulture. The finished drink is intended for cocktails but also for the older habit of drinking vermouth on its own, over ice or with orange peel.