Tried these two over the last few days:
1. VARA Vermut Dulce Reserva Sweet Vermouth (16.5%; Handcrafted*Small Batch; 10 select aromatic botanicals; www.VaraWines.com; Chamomile/Coriande/Cardamon/Clove/AngelicaRoot/GentileRoot/Grand Wormwood/Sage/OrangePeel) Albuquerque NV: Light burnished bronze/bit garnet color; quite alcoholic/fumey very strong herbal/botanicals earthy slight grapey complex nose; soft quite sweet very strong botanicals/herbal rather alcoholic/fumey/hot complex flavor w/ slight tannic bite; very long/lingering very sweet intense herbal/botannical quite alcoholic/fumey finish w/ slight tannins; dominated by the botanicals & not much fun to drink on its own. $35.00 (SFW&S)
____________________
2. Emilio Lustau Vermut White (15%; www.Lustau.Es; Europinvin Imprts/VanNuys; Wormwood/Gentian/Marjoram/Chamomile) Jerez de la Frontera NV: Light gold color; beautiful pencilly floral powerfully aromatic quite complex nose; off-dry pencilly/floral/spicy slight herbal/botanical very smooth complex beautiful flavor; very long/lingering very pencilly/floral/aromatic/spicy complex near dry finish; a beautiful complex Vermouth that is a real pleasure to drink on its own.
_____________________________________
More rittlesippi from TheBloodyPulpit:
1. VARA is a fairly new wnry in Albq. Consulting winemakers are Bob Lindquist & Louisa Sawyer-Lindquist. Laurent Gruet makes their sparkling wines.
They bring in a lot of Spanish wine in bulk and blend it in Albq. They also make some wine from Calif grapes, including Ampelos & Sawyer-Lindquist vnyds. The sparkling wines are made from WashState grapes.
We tried Sun at Pig+Fig a selection of VARA wines that Laura is going to use at her SFW&CF luncheon. The sparkling wines were rather light/delicate but pleasant enough. The dry table wines were also rather pleasant but in the light/delicate side. The Vermut was not very fun to drink straight-up on its own. Dominated by the intense botanicals. Holly brought out the Lustau to compare and it was lovely to drink on its own.
Tom