ABOUT

baldoria vermouth

Italy invented vermouth; Baldoria aims to perfect it.

Now at 10 distinct formulations and counting, the ever-expanding Baldoria range is transforming the narrative from what vermouth was to what vermouth can be.

Baldoria was conceived by Dotan Shalev, one of the original founders of Paris’ acclaimed Little Red Door (a “World’s 50 Best” cocktail bar), and Italian distillers Piero Nuvoloni-Bonnet and Enrico Giordana, whose small fabbrica and farm, Argalà, is headquartered just outside Cuneo in Piedmont. The project was originally a “products offshoot” of Little Red Door, which was known for partnering with small organic farms to source herbs, citrus, and other produce for their bespoke cocktails. Over time, following endless tinkering and testing, Baldoria has become a thriving international brand in its own right; its makers, now operating under the name Ernest Spirits, are busy developing other craft spirits products to complement the award-winning vermouths.

Ernest Spirits is headquartered in the Argalà facility in Boves, just outside Cuneo in Piedmont. With seasoned entrepreneur Daniel Schmidt running the business side, Nuvoloni-Bonnet and team are free to focus entirely on product development, starting with the cultivation of botanicals for the vermouths in a 10-acre plot directly adjacent to the production facility. Cultivated without the use of pesticides or herbicides, these homegrown botanicals are complemented by ingredients foraged (with permission) in a southern Piedmontese nature preserve known as the Aree Protette delle Alpi Marittime. Extending across the Maritime Alps of Southern Piedmont and into neighboring France, this regional park is a bastion of biodiversity and a source of inspiration for producers like Baldoria: Among the ingredients sourced from this wild, mountainous area is a wild plum variety known as prunus brigantina, from which Baldoria produces an extract for use in one of its formulations.

Then, of course, there’s the wine. Vermouth is, after all, an aromatized wine, and Baldoria seeks out the best possible base wines for its formulations—opting not for the traditional Moscato but for dry wines from Piedmontese Chardonnay, Nebbiolo grapes (there is also the iconoclastic Baldoria Amber, which incorporates skin-fermented, amphora-aged Rkatsiteli wine from the Republic of Georgia—a vermouth formulation for “orange wine” lovers).

Meaning “revelry” in Italian, Baldoria is also synonymous with “natural.” There are no artificial flavors, no colorants, no clarifying agents, no preservatives. The sweetness levels are expertly calibrated. The aromatics are pure and intense. These are not just cocktail “modifiers” but vermouths that will shine on their own, served simply over ice with a lemon twist or orange wedge garnish.

• Classics - Dry, Rosso and Bianco.
• Contemporary: Rosé, Dry Rosso, Bitter, Dry Umami, and Verdant.
• Vintage: Vintage-dated vermouth on a Georgian “orange wine” base.

As noted above, however, there’s more to come from the ambitious Ernest team. These are game-changing vermouths for the most discerning mixologists, chefs, and craft spirits enthusiasts.