Ingredients

apertif/digestif wines

Also known as “vini amari”,“aperitif wines (unfortified)”,“aromatized wines”. Aromatized wines is an abstract category for a manufactured wine product with some form of bitter herbal flavorings incorporated through maceration or blending with tinctures. The bitter herbal components—which may or may not be particularly evident to taste—are the defining characteristic because they stimulate the production of gastric acids and thus, prepare the imbiber for eating. This category is related to and predates the much more common fortified aperitif wines that have added brandy or neutral spirits, such as vermouth. (In practice, many—perhaps most—commercial vini amari are also fortified.)