Matthiasson Sweet Vermouth No.3

Very limited - only 48 bottles made it to St. Louis

Matthiasson Sweet Vermouth No.3....$31.99 / 375ml

Batch number three is a non-vintage blend of the 2015 and 2016 vintages. For this reason it will be two to three years until we are able to repeat it (batch number two was a three-year blend, it all depends on the wines).

Each year the fruit was picked very late, with some botrytis and raisins at harvest. Besides the natural high sugar, the must was sweetened further by chaptalizing with organic cane sugar, to around 45 brix.

The grapes were fermented whole cluster (skins and stems) in open-top fermenters with manual punch downs twice a day. We let the fermentation stop naturally, with 120-170 grams per liter of residual sugar remaining due to the high brix when the grapes were crushed, and pressed the wine into partially full used barrels.

We added no sulfites during elevage and didn’t top, instead allowing the wine to slowly oxydize and develop the wonderful nutty and dried fruit flavors. The two vintages were barrel aged between eight and thirty-two months.

To complement the natural grape aromas of the Flora we made infusions of our own home-grown blood oranges and sour cherries, along with coriander seed that we purchased. The infusions were made in a base of high-proof neutral grape spirits.

The bittering was mainly done by adding an infusion of our own home-grown cardoons, but we also purchased cinchona bark, wormwood, and blessed thistle to infuse for a little more complexity.

The two vintages were blended and the infusions added into the wine right before bottling.

The wine was bottled unfiltered. 590 cases of 375ml bottles were produced.

The Napa Valley Sweet Vermouth No. 3 makes a great boulevardier, blood and sand, negroni, manhattan, or even better, can be served neat as an aperitif or to accompany dessert.