Since the pandemic has taken over our daily lives, cooking and drinking wine and spirits, daily, has become a ritual in our household.
I have been the sole cook in our family for the past 26 plus years. Since work is a thing of the past, my wife has started to join me in the kitchen. She has been using cher Caprese mother’s recipes to create several main courses. And has found a knack for creating desserts.
Having been in the candy and ice cream (Fabulous Phil’s Gourmet Ice Cream) business for several years, my yearning for sweets diminished because I over consumed during those years. My appetite for sweets had changed since my wife, Maria started making pastries.
My position of house sommelier has an added change, I am now the house bartender. What that means is, I can make up drinks and the two of us can enjoy the fruit of the labor. Negroni style drinks have been big hits, as we both love vermouth and Campari.
Maria’s mother, Anna, was known for her devotion to sweet vermouth and martinis at dinner time. We, now, call that ‘Happy Hour.’
One of the drinks that has taken our ‘Happy Hour’ by fancy is a cocktail made with botanicals from the famous Italian Nonino sisters (Elizabetta, Antonella & Cristina) 1940 recipe from their grandmother, Silvea Milocco.
Their grandmother was a pioneer in the spirits world, as she was the first woman in Italy to produce Grappa. Her recipe for the apertivo was lost during the war and recently surfaced. The sisters followed the recipe which includes sixteen vegan friendly, all natural botanicals. The infusion of berries, herbs, roots and flowers helped create a fruity, somewhat bitter, citrus product, full of white peach, lemon, rhubarb and gentian root, appropriately named L’Apertivo Nonino.
Distillation took place in a copper steam still with the head and tail removed. In layman’s terms, it was a modified copper still.
The result is a relatively new (2019 release) botanical apertivo called L’Apertivo Nonino.
As you can see in the photos, the bottle is quite elegant. The design includes the three sisters incorporated into a botanical design.
On the backside of the bottle is a recipe for a cocktail, which has become our favorite drink of the pandemic. It is simple to make and doesn’t seem to have a name. So, we call it L’Apertivo Nonino.
Ingredients:
2 parts L’Apertivo Nonino
1 part Sparkling wine
A splash of lemon juice
Preparation:
Add ice cubes to a bourbon glass, mix the ingredients above in the glass and add a lemon wheel to the glass and serve.
Its a hit in our home, thanks to this lost recipe of 80 years ago.
Philip S. Kampe
Philip.kampe@thewinehub.com
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