Noilly Prat is a maker of vermouth based in Marseillan in southern France. Its Original Dry Vermouth was among the first dry vermouths to be exported and is today considered the archetype for dry vermouth.
The company was founded in 1855, when Louis Noilly (1801–1865), a Lyon wine and spirit merchant, made his son-in-law, Claudius Prat (1812–1859), a partner and opened a factory in Marseille to produce absinthe, liqueurs, and vermouth. Louis had already begun exporting vermouth to the United States by 1851, using his father Joseph’s recipe; by 1862, it had reached as far as Australia. Both founders died within ten years of starting the business, but Anne-Rosine Prat (1825–1902), daughter of Louis and widow of Claudius, inherited the company in 1865 and ran it for more than forty years, turning it into an international success.
In the 1950s and 1960s, with the decline of the Dry Martini, the brand fell on hard times and was forced to consolidate all of its operations at its facility in Marseillan, on the Mediterranean coast two hours west of Marseille. In 1971 the Italy-based vermouth maker Martini & Rossi acquired the brand, and in 1992 liquor conglomerate Bacardi Limited bought Martini & Rossi, bringing the Noilly Prat brand under its umbrella.
Using a unique process credited to Louis Noilly’s father, Joseph, Noilly Prat’s vermouths begin with wines made from picpoul and clairette grapes that are aged in oak casks, some of which are stored outdoors and exposed to the elements until the wine within is well oxidized. These are mixed with various aromatics, depending on the type of vermouth, and a small quantity of muscat mistelle for sweetening. See mistelle. The brand makes four vermouths at present: Original Dry, based, it is claimed, on Joseph Noilly’s 1813 recipe; Extra Dry, a variation on Original Dry created for the American market in 1955, lighter in color and using less-sweet wines; Rouge (created in 1956), a sweet vermouth (which, despite its name and dark color, is made from white wine); and Ambré (created in 1986), a vermouth whose flavor hovers between traditional sweet and dry vermouth.
See also Martini & Rossi and vermouth.
Almanach Bottin du commerce. Paris: 1856.
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By: Jason Horn