Vermouth maker: Dave Verheul
Where: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Size: Production approx. 14,000 bottles
Main Products: Quince, Summer Flowers, Black Walnut, Spring Rhubarb, Marigold & Walnut
Sourcing: Organic where bought, otherwise foraged ingredients
Quick note: Co-owner of iconic Melbourne restaurant Embla, Dave is crafting uniquely Australian elevated vermouth and amaro’s
Absolutely the finest vermouth and amaro to come from Australia. Chef Dave Verheul works with seasonal and Australian flowers, herbs, spices and fruits and organic base wine. Stunning alone or as a mixed drink. This sustained us through our Australia trip last January.
Dave Verheul is the chef-owner at the iconic Melbourne restaurant and wine bar Embla, that’s home to the gigantic woodfired oven that lots of Saison ingredients are put through. After decades in the restaurant industry, his approach to food, developed in kitchens around the world, prioritises simple things grown by the best and prepared with care. This has influenced his approach to making some of the best aperitifs in the world.
Founded in early 2020 while Melbourne was going through the first wave of covid, Dave crafted a vermouth made from the not-quite-empty wine bottles that came from the restaurant. After a rave review (of the 40 or so bottles!), Dave investigated the world of vermouth and amaro. The search left him with either amateur home-recipes, or vague Italian hints, there was really no modern method of producing high-quality aperitifs that moved away from the traditionally heavy spice and caramel palette. Dave believed the drinks could be seasonal, hence the name, and be brighter, fresher and more singular in flavour. So started the chef obsession!
Every aperitif is made with painstaking research that influenced the direction of the drink. Each aperitif is made with a core ingredient picked at its peak, and seasonal complimentary notes are added to enhance. They ended up working with foraged wild herbs; fruit and flowers from small-scale growers; and multiple Australian varieties of the required vermouth herb, wormwood.
The base wines come from family run vineyards near Rutherglen in Central Victoria, normally Moscato, Frontignac and Shiraz. The magic touch from Dave’s chef history is his ability to test, research and develop flavours. For example, when we visited, Dave showed us his R&D on organic pineapple quinces, locally grown north of Melbourne, where he had 50 L buckets with fresh fermented quinces, cooked quinces, caramelised quinces, burnt quinces….the list goes on! The vermouth then went on to have saffron, blood orange, bay leaf, dried jasmine flower, rhubarb root and two types of Australian wormwoods, all aged together with the vermouth on burnt quinces.
Mind bogglingly intricate and thoughtful, you can absolutely taste the dedication, quality of material and care of creation that Dave has crafted in these aperitifs.
