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Botella de Carpano Antica Formula
Rojo

Turín

Foto: Tom Ipri — CC BY-SA 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons)

Red · Medium-sweet

Carpano Antica Formula

Carpano

Turín , Italia

Re-evaluation pending

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Overall impression

Antica Formula is not just a historic vermouth: it is the recipe with which Antonio Benedetto Carpano invented the category in Turin in 1786. Today Fratelli Branca Distillerie makes it in limited quantities, with the same label inspired by the original design and blown-glass bottle. Only three people know the complete formula — including president Niccolò Branca himself — which explains the product's coherence across centuries. For cocktail work it is the reference sweet vermouth in Manhattan, classic Negroni and premium Americano.

Nose and palate

Bright amaranth colour with amber reflections. Vanilla is the thread running through the bouquet, accompanied by spice, candied citrus, raisins and clove. On the palate it is round and structured: vanilla returns with force, intertwined with bitter orange, dates, toasted almonds, cocoa and the saffron Carpano uses as a distinctive spice. Generous sweetness that never cloys; Alpine wormwood bitterness closes with persistence.

How to serve it

Neat with ice and orange peel, in Negroni or Manhattan, or as an «on the rocks» aperitif as the brand itself promotes. Its complexity withstands dilution without losing identity.

Production context

Based on white wines from Romagna, Puglia and Sicily, processed within 24 hours of harvest to preserve freshness. Botanicals — vanilla from Madagascar, Papua New Guinea and Tahiti; Iranian saffron; artemisia from the Piedmont Alps — are extracted by hot infusion or cold maceration according to raw material. After months of refining, sweetened and coloured with caramelised sugar (zucchero bruciato). 16.5% vol.; usual 1 litre format.

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