Agora Vermouth - your new aperitif this summer
Agora Vermouth is a new British-made small-batch vermouth, created by UK-based wine and spirits expert, Arthur Voulgaris, that is set to launch in the UK this summer.
Arthur paints a romantic picture of vermouth drinkers at pavement tables of fashionable cafés, coming together after work, talking about their day and letting this heady, bittersweet liquid slip down their throats and loosen limbs and lips, signalling for the evening to begin.
Vermouth has been drank in this way for hundreds of years, becoming fashionable in Turin in the 1700s, but it was first the drink of the Ancient Greeks, when Hippocrates used to drink it to cure ailments. Arthur, a lover of vermouth for twenty years, wanted to explore its Greek origins further (propelled by his own Greek heritage) and became inspired by their travels to the East through the Spice Route.
The name ‘Agora’ comes from the word for ‘marketplace’ in the Ancient Greek world, a place people gathered and socialised - which is very in keeping with the spirit of vermouth. Of course, vermouth isn’t a spirit at all, but an aromatised fortified wine, flavoured with a variety of roots, barks, flowers, herbs and spices.
‘Vermouth is really about spices,’ says Arthur, as he reveals he has spent most of lockdown experimenting with different recipes, since battening down the hatches in Suffolk. He has been keen to take the recipe back to the Ancient Greek style of vermouth, with a Levant accent, using the wormwood delicately, alongside star anise and rose petals - just a few of his 15 locally-sourced botanicals.
Inspired by the Spice Route
As a long-time fan of vermouth, Arthur was looking for something ‘that wasn’t insanely bitter or insanely sweet’. I was lucky enough to try a natural tank sample, which hasn’t been filtered or stabilised, to see where the vermouth is in its evolution - Arthur predicts this batch will be ready around mid-July.
I love his vermouth at this stage. Made as a Rosso, it has a generous and soft palate, which is gently spiced with a very subtle bitterness on the finish. It has flavours of aniseed, mandarin and wood, with seductive notes of rose and lavender. There’s a voluptuous richness, too; caramel and coffee. You wouldn’t guess it was 16% ABV, beautifully balanced as it is.
With more time, Arthur tells us that the residual sugar will go up and it will become more spiced. The rose and citrus might fall away, but more intense, tertiary characteristics will replace them.
We try it as a spritz with tonic, which is gorgeously refreshing and delicious, and it lends a sweet roundness to a Manhattan cocktail. But I think it’s so nice on its own, that I’d be happy with it chilled, straight up in a pretty glass, or with a couple of ice cubes in a rocks glass. Drank as an aperitif, Agora Rosso is just the thing to start off long summertime lunches in the garden.
Follow Arthur’s Agora journey here and get your orders in for the summer!
A little about vermouth...
The grapes used to make the base wine for vermouths include Bianchetta, Trevigiana, Catarratto, Trebbiano, Clairette Blanche and Piquepoul. This low-alcohol wine is then then fortified by adding a neutral grape spirit (if a sweet vermouth is being made, then sugar syrup is added before this step) and placed in large barrels or tanks, to which the botanicals are added. After stirring at intervals until the dry ingredients have been absorbed, the vermouth is finally bottled. The ABV at the time of bottling is between 16% and 18%.