Vermouth is made by first making the wine. Noilly Prat uses speciality grapes of the Picpoul de Pinet and Clairette varieties, which are grown in the Marseillan region, near the distillery. The wines produced by the growers are poured into large casks, taking on the flavours of the Canadian oak the barrels are made from, as they mature over an 8-month interval.
When their time is up, the wine is transferred into smaller oak barrels and left outside for an entire year, to endure the seasons. Here, the wine dries out as it is battered by rain, wind, sunshine and low temperatures during the winter. After this process, the wine takes on an amber colour and becomes full-bodied. It tastes similar to Madeira or Sherry. The liquid inside the barrels is known to evaporate during this period and between 6-8% of the volume is lost.
The wine is brought back to the cellars where it is laid to rest for several months and blended into new oak casks. Grape juice mixed with alcohol, otherwise known as ‘Mistelle’, is added to the solution to gently sweeten and soften the wine. The addition of fruit essence helps to bring out the natural flavours of the wine. A distilled spirit, such as brandy, is also added to the mixture to increase the alcohol by volume, or ABV. Raising the alcohol level above 15% kills off the yeast in the wine and fortifies it.
Now the wine is ready for herbs and spices to be added. The process or maceration takes a period of three weeks, during which the flavours are fully blended into the beverage by hand on a daily basis. Noilly Prat never shares its secret recipe for white vermouth, but it is known that chamomile, bitter orange peel, nutmeg, centaury, coriander and cloves are included in the ingredients.
It takes another six weeks of resting before the end product is ready to be bottled. The resulting dry vermouth is a pale yellow or clear coloured liquid that is ready to be drunk!