Cocchi Vermouth di Torino Review

Cocchi Vermouth di Torino is a historic sweet vermouth from Italy’s Piedmont region that raises the bar for aromatized wines. Flavors of rhubarb, bitter orange, cocoa, and baking spice make it complex enough for boozy cocktails, but it’s also gentle enough to sip solo or enjoy in low-ABV drinks.

Tasting Notes

Nose: The fruitiness of the nose is the first thing that jumps out at you, full of fig, plum, and orange zest with star anise and a mildly musky undertone. Part and parcel to the grapey, juicy note is the Moscato grape, an intensely aromatic variety, which plays with the botanicals in the blend to create depth and intrigue that draw you right into the glass. 

Palate: Despite the depth of flavor, Cocchi is light and agile on the palate. Notes of rhubarb, bitter orange, chamomile, and a grapey Moscato base stand out, along with baking spice, cocoa, vanilla bean, and bitterness from gentian and wormwood.

Finish: Sweet rhubarb notes stick around on the back of your tongue, along with a lip-smacking mild bitterness. 

Our Review

This is an aromatized wine to judge all others by. When you try it for the first time, you might just ask yourself, “So that’s what sweet vermouth is supposed to taste like?” Yes. Yes it is. 

The recipe dates back to 1891, when a young Florentine pastry chef named Giulio Cocchi moved to Asti (about 30 miles outside of Turin), and became enchanted with the local Moscato grape and its ability to make outstanding aromatized wines alongside local botanicals. Cocchi learned to make wine and distill it, creating a line of fortified wines that would go on to become popular in the region and beyond. 

Today, Cocchi Vermouth di Torino is one of the gold standards of the vermouth category. It’s light on its proverbial feet and adds layers of flavor intrigue to cocktails with rich and slightly bitter notes of cocoa, ripe fruit, spices, and wormwood, but it’s also gently sweet enough to savor by itself over ice with a twist. 

You’d be hard-pressed to find a sweet vermouth cocktail where Cocchi doesn’t shine, but it lifts the ubiquitous Negroni to new heights. And while its rich notes of cocoa and ripe fruit work beautifully in cocktails that have a backbone, such as the rye-based Remember the Maine, its gentleness won’t overwhelm low-ABV cocktails like an Americano. That said, those looking for a different and perhaps more intense flavor profile in their sweet vermouth might instead opt for bottles like Carpano Antica Formula, Punt e Mes, or Cocchi’s own Dopo Teatro.