In the wake of Eric Asimov’s article on vermouth for the Times last week, “This Summer, Pause for the Vermouth Hour,” it seemed like a great time to reach out to Fulvio Piccinino from Turin.

Fulvio, a professor at the Slow Food University of Gastronomic Sciences in Bra, is widely considered to be the world’s greatest expert on vermouth.

In the 2019, he published the definitive book on Vermouth of Torino. But he has also published seminal works on gin and on Futurist mixology, among others.

He and I have interacted on occasion because he consulted on the recipe for a vermouth produced by my client Amistà in the Nizza DOCG.

He’s an amazing dude and I always learn so much when I get to chat with him.

During our interview, I ask him why he thinks vermouth has become so popular in recent years. He doesn’t really answer the question directly but he talks at length on how interest in vermouth has changed and grown over the last decade or so.

In the early years of his seminars (his first session on vermouth dates back to 2010), he had just a handful of mixology professionals in attendance. Today, he said, he can barely accommodate the number of people who want to learn more about vermouth. But, he notes, they are mostly consumers.

He attributes that trend to the fact that people increasingly want to know what goes into the production of the vermouth they drink.

As I expected, it was a fascinating chat. And I’m pleased to sure it here. You can also watch it over on the Amistà blog. Enjoy!