Partida Creus was started by an Italian couple, both underemployed architects with apparently loads of free time on their hands, who moved to the Catalan countryside in 2000 and embarked on a project to revive old, abandoned vineyards of predominantly unknown varietals. Everything is done organically, naturally and by hand. To supplement their wild, DO defying wines, they crafted this unique sweet vermouth from a base comprised of a barrel-aged red, an un-aged red, and an oxidized white that’s macerated for two moons with a mixture of herbs from a friend in Torina following the recipe of his great-grandfather, Mr. Carpano himself, that dates back to the 1870s. The result is a delicious, light-bodied, subtly sweet but balanced Vermouth with tangy, wormwood-driven bitters and lots of botanical complexity that can be served on the rocks, with or without a splash of soda or tonic, and a wedge of orange or lemon, but also great in Manhattans and Negronis.