Alfredo Soria: a Vermouth di Torino from 1934

A Canelli wine man from a family of hoteliers in southern Piedmont. His mother was a daughter of Luigi Bosca, of the Canelli sparkling-wine house, and his cousins belonged to the Contratto family. In 1914 Alfredo and his cousin Armando trained in Épernay, in Champagne, learning the méthode champenoise, and on 16 March 1934 he registered the firm Alfredo Soria in Canelli — the complete file survives in the Asti and Alessandria Chamber of Commerce archive. By 1938 the brand was listed in the national wine and liquor yearbook, and by 1940 it was exporting, to France among other markets. Alfredo's only daughter, Maria Rosa, married Ernesto Barbero and moved to Valpolicella, where Ernesto worked at the Bertani winery in the 1950s; she could not take over the firm, and the recipes and labels passed into family safekeeping. The full story is on soriaspirits.com.

The recipe sat in a bank safe-deposit box for decades. In September 2024, during the Canelli harvest, Giulia found an original Alfredo Soria label among family photographs in the old house; that fragment of paper started the revival. The recipe was reconstructed and the Vermouth di Torino Rosso released, made under the Vermouth di Torino rules — Italian wine, Piedmont-grown wormwood, no colouring but caramel — which the family recipe predates by more than eighty years. Read how the Vermouth di Torino rules work.

About 75% wine: Piemonte Cortese DOC and Moscato d'Asti DOCG, roughly two parts to one. The Cortese brings freshness and a savoury edge; the Moscato brings aromatic lift and natural grape sweetness, which is why the vermouth needs less added sugar than most — wine-led, not sugar-led. Two Piedmontese wormwoods, Artemisia gentile and Artemisia romana, lead the botanicals, with local roots, barks and citrus peels held to a recipe that remains a family secret. 16% ABV. Serve chilled, at 6–8 °C.

Deep garnet in the glass. Red fruit and gentle grape sweetness first, then warm spice, then the long alpine-herb bitterness of the wormwood. Neat or over ice with an orange twist, it is the Turin aperitivo and the vermouth for a Negroni, Manhattan or Americano; three parts to two of Prosecco with a splash of soda, it becomes the Singapore Spritz.

The first release since the revival: a limited run of 500 ml bottles, 16% ABV, labelled after the original 1930s design. Retail price in Italy: €38. In Singapore: S$88 per bottle.

Alfredo Soria is served in the Singapore Spritz at Garibaldi Italian Restaurant & Bar, #01-02, 36 Purvis Street, and poured from the Spritz Cottage at private events. Bottles are reserved through the waitlist and collected at Garibaldi, where waitlist members also receive a welcome offer. We write to the waitlist about once every two months — new releases, dinners, venues — and nothing else.