#2 | Amaro Essenziale
Origin: Italy (Asti, Piemont) / 30% / Price: ca. 25-30€
This time we're reviewing another amaro, like the Santa Maria Al Monte, which was a true love at first sight - or rather sniff. Part of a whole set that was tested that day, this was the one sample that made you pause immediately upon nosing and feel lost in another world, this extremely mysterious balsamic, dark note on the one hand, but also fresh and invigorating, almost a little animalic, myrrh, myrtle, cola nut and fermented berries and blood orange rise deep into the nose as if coming directly from concentrated essential oil samples.
Let's start again with the exterior: A very appealing bottle that treads the fine line between modern design elements and just the right touch of retro design, even the almost sweet, very rounded bottle feels heavy and valuable in the hand.
The producer is also an interesting case, Franco Cavallero owns the distillery, which also produces exciting vermouths and gin "Agricolo". As the owner of the Sant'Agata winery, he opened a wine shop/cocktail bar in Asti in 2011: "Il Cicchetto", a place, as he says, "where people come to share experiences". So: originally a wine producer, but also a wine shop and cocktail bar owner and now also an amaro, vermouth and gin producer, all made locally and with a lot of love and craftsmanship? Someone is living out their entire bucket list, truly enviable. And just from this great example in the bottle here, you get a great desire to try out all the other products of this interesting gentleman.
Here we have an Amaro that can theoretically be substituted in almost all Amaro drinks if you want to give them that special balsamic note. It plays particularly well with drinks that use some kind of red fruitiness, especially all kinds of berries, a Manhattan or Negroni with berry twist and this Amaro? A dream. At the same time, due to its intensity, it is not necessarily the everyday sipper in terms of neat enjoyment, which you should be aware of, but it is still an enrichment for any Amaro collection and is currently in my top 5.
Nose:
Almost overwhelmingly aromatic, hence the 5 points, a pulsating balsamic base note that immediately fills the glass, strongly reminiscent of real myrtle, purple flowers, inlaid in a herbal balm of sage, mint, roughened leather, spiced black lemon (Arabic specialty), reminiscent of ink, fascinating
Taste:
Sage is initially very present and again the violet flowers, myrtle, cardamom, gentian and fresh mint, a hint of cinnamon also flashes briefly, licorice, in the mouth not quite as dark violet as in the nose, has some more freshness from the herb garden and the "only" 30% certainly keep it more drinkable here than it would be at 40, balanced, for the most part, quite a bit bitter before the finish though
Finish:
Here the bitterness comes out more clearly, especially gentian and some dried flowers and herbs, licorice, dried citrus peel, retains a freshness within the bitterness in the finish, the citrus also comes out more clearly here, albeit more dry zests than actual flesh, medium to long
