Country: Swartland, South Africa

Raw material: Chenin Blanc and Muscat de Frontignan, and 35 botanicals including coriander, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, calamus, cinchona bark, fynbos, naartjie, geraniums, African wormwood, buchu, cape gooseberries, date palm, grapefruit, bergamot, lime, roobios, konfettibos, artemisia, and Kei apples

Alcohol: 17.5%

In South Africa, the art of manufacturing vermouth started in the early 1900s, when the Caperitif had arrived courtesy of the Castle Wine and Spirits Company.

During American Prohibition (the 1920s), the Savoy Hotel in London began serving Caperitif vermouth in its legendary American Bar as a critical ingredient in cocktails that would become classics and appearing in The Savoy Cocktail Book.

However, the production eventually ceased in the 1960s and returns by the mixologist Lars Lyndgaard Schmidt and the winemaker Adi Badenhorst.

Caperitif is made from wine fortified by spirits, gently sweetened with the sugars of the grape, bittered by cinchona bark and flavoured with a selection of some 35 natural botanicals, including fynbos, kalmoes and naartjie.

The botanists which are sourced from the Swartland, in the Cape Floral Kingdom, are sipped in the wine for 4 months and aged in oak cask before bottling.

Tasting Notes

Colour: Pale amber-orange

Aroma: Vibrant and rich bouquet of zesty orange, and herbaceous

Taste: Intense flavours, bitter quinine, piney, and spice