Cinzano Vermouth
From Graces Guide
Cinzano is an Italian brand of vermouth.
- 1757 Cinzano Vermouths can be traced back to the Turin herbal shop of two brothers, Giovanni Giacomo and Carlo Stefano Cinzano, who created a new Vermouth Rosso (red vermouth) using "aromatic plants from the Italian Alps in a [still-secret] recipe combining 35 ingredients (including marjoram, thyme and [a species of Achillea called] musk yarrow)."
- Cinzano Bianco followed, based on a different combination of herbs that included artemisia (wormwood), cinnamon, cloves, citrus and gentian; it was followed by an Extra Dry version.
- 1873 The Cinzano company bought the property at Santa Vittorio d'Alba which they had rented for 10 years, where the production of Cinzano is still carried out today.
- 1890s Exports began to Argentina, Brazil, the USA, among others.
- 1912 Cinzano was the first product to be advertised with a neon sign.
- Cinzano remained a family-run business until 1985. Beginning that year, the Marone family, Turin industrialists, began to sell shares of the business.
- 1992 An agreement was reached to turn Cinzano International S.A. entirely over to International Distillers and Vintners, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Grand Metropolitan. At the time of its sale, Cinzano's share of the vermouth market in Europe was measured in the low single digits, sales that placed it a distant second to Martini.
- 1997 As a result of a merger, Grand Metropolitan became Diageo.
- 1999 Diageo sold Cinzano to the privately-held Gruppo Campari.
Sources of Information
- [1] Wikipedia
- Trademarked. A History of Well-Known Brands - from Aertex to Wright's Coal Tar by David Newton. Pub: Sutton Publishing 2008 ISBN 978-0-7509-4590-5