Cocchi Americano cocktails.

Cocchi Americano is an aromatised wine from Piedmont — Moscato-based, bittered with cinchona bark and gentian, flavoured with citrus — that has been made since 1891 and became famous a century later for a reason its makers never intended: it tastes more like the original Kina Lillet than modern Lillet does. If you want a Vesper or a Corpse Reviver No. 2 as they were written, this is the bottle.

What is Cocchi Americano?

An americano in the Italian sense — not the cocktail, but a style of aperitif wine bittered with gentian (amer, hence the name) and, in this case, cinchona, which makes it also a quinquina. Giulio Cocchi, a Florentine pastry chef, began making it in Asti in 1891, and the house still does, from Moscato d'Asti wine, grape spirit, sugar and an infusion of cinchona, gentian, bitter orange peel and other botanicals. It is 16.5% ABV, pale gold, and sweeter and more bitter than a dry vermouth.

Its fame in cocktails dates from the 2000s, when bartenders rebuilding the old recipes found that Lillet had been reformulated in 1986 to be gentler, and that Cocchi's bitter, quinine-forward americano was closer to what the 1930s drinks had been built on.

How it's made

Moscato d'Asti grapes, grown around the Cocchi cellars, are vinified into a sweet, aromatic white wine. The botanicals — cinchona bark, gentian root, bitter orange peel and a handful of others — are infused separately into spirit, and the infusion is blended with the wine and a little sugar, fortified to strength and rested briefly before bottling. The Moscato is the signature: it gives the aperitif a floral, grapey sweetness that the bitter botanicals cut through. A Rosa version uses Brachetto and Malvasia and adds rose and ginger.

What it tastes like

Muscat grapes and orange blossom first, then a clean, quinine bitterness, bitter orange peel, a honeyed mid-palate and a dry, slightly tannic finish. Next to Lillet Blanc it is more bitter, more floral and a little sweeter; next to a blanc vermouth it is brighter and more quinine-driven. On ice with a twist it is a complete aperitif on its own.

Styles worth knowing

Bottle	What it is	In a drink
Cocchi Americano (Bianco)	Moscato, cinchona, gentian, 16.5%	Vesper, Corpse Reviver No. 2, Twentieth Century, spritz
Cocchi Americano Rosa	Red-grape version with rose and ginger	Spritzes; a rosé Negroni-style drink
Lillet Blanc	The Bordeaux quinquina, gentler	The same drinks, softer
Other americanos (Contratto, Carpano Bianco)	Piedmontese cousins	Interchangeable with care

Which bottle to buy

The Bianco. It is the one every modern recipe means when it says Cocchi Americano, and it is the one that stands in for Kina Lillet. A bottle lasts a few weeks once opened, so buy it when you intend to use it and keep it cold. The Rosa is a pleasure in a spritz but is a second bottle.

Using it in drinks

The Corpse Reviver No. 2 — gin, orange liqueur, lemon and a quinquina in equal parts, with an absinthe rinse — is sharper and more alive on Cocchi than on Lillet. The Vesper (three gin, one vodka, half Kina Lillet) is Ian Fleming's drink and is only right with a bitter quinquina. The Twentieth Century uses it against white crème de cacao. On its own: Cocchi and soda with a lemon twist, or two parts prosecco to one of Cocchi as a bitter, floral spritz, are the Piedmontese ways to drink it.

It also swaps for blanc vermouth in a wet Martini, and for Lillet in anything.

Substitutes

Lillet Blanc is the obvious one, softer and less bitter — add a dash of orange bitters or a drop of tonic to compensate. Blanc vermouth gives the sweetness without the quinine. Contratto Americano or another Piedmontese americano is a direct swap. Dry vermouth with a bar-spoon of tonic syrup is the cupboard version.

Storage

It is wine at 16.5%. Refrigerate once opened and use within three or four weeks; it loses its floral top notes first and then oxidises. Unopened, keep it cool and drink within a couple of years.

Questions

What is the difference between Cocchi Americano and Lillet? Cocchi is Italian, Moscato-based and distinctly bitter with quinine and gentian; Lillet Blanc is French, Bordeaux-based and gentler since its 1986 reformulation. Cocchi is closer to the old Kina Lillet the classic recipes used.

Is it a vermouth? No. Vermouth is bittered with wormwood; americanos are bittered with gentian and, in this case, cinchona. They are used the same way.

Why 'Americano'? From amer, bitter, and the Italian tradition of gentian-bittered aperitif wines — not from the Campari-and-vermouth cocktail, which took its name from the same word for the same reason.

Can I drink it on its own? Yes, and in Piedmont that is how it is drunk: on ice, with a slice of orange or a twist of lemon, before dinner.