Chinati Vergano Chinato

Chinato is perhaps Piemonte’s most famous digestif. Traditionally made with aged Barolo, it takes its name from the bark of the quinine (or “China”) tree, which is the chief botanical here. Vergano prefers to use a younger wine from Barbaresco, where the tannins are not as firm and the perfume is a little more lifted. The china bark lends the wine tea-like tannins, while herbs and spices like cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, coriander, bay, ginseng, and rhubarb provide warmth and real interest. There is no better way to end a meal.  

Mauro Vergano worked for many years as a chemist for one of Italy's top pharmaceutical companies, developing flavors and aromas. A lover of drinks, he has long made them for friends to enjoy, and behind an unassuming door in the town of Asti, he now produces tiny quantities of Vermouth, Chinati, and other treasures that are in high demand among those in the know. These drinks are known as vini aromatizzati—wines that have had various aromatic ingredients added to them. Mauro begins with base wines full of healthy fruit—fresh, clean, balanced wines that provide the perfect jump-off point for the flavor juggling that ensues. To the base wine, he adds some sugar, raw alcohol, and a combination of citrus, quinine, wormwood, and other botanicals. In the wrong hands, this could go horribly wrong, but Mauro must be something of a genius, as each of his creations displays astonishing balance and length.