Apero culture is all about visceral enjoyment and opening the appetite.
The next time you rock up to a bar or open the drinks cabinet (more commonly the fridge) at home wanting ‘something different’ to whet the whistle, know that you are not alone.
Our taste for something cold in
The French have been enjoying aperitif, and the Italians aperitivo, for centuries, sipping dry, bittersweet, herbal drinks that stimulate the appetite. Europeans cherish this time after work and before dinner to prepare physically and mentally for the evening meal.
In New Zealand we are familiar with 'happy hour', not so much the style of drink. At Auckland's Bar Magda, co-owner Matt Venables says that one of the most satisfying parts of bartending is getting patrons to try something new.
“Most people would look at my back bar and have no idea what most of the products are, but I have created a menu that makes them accessible.”
As an example, Matt infuses local fennel pollen into white port and mixes it with East Imperial yuzu tonic and kiwifruit for Bar Magda’s take on a classic white port and tonic a Spanish aperitif.
Port sits alongside spirits such as sherry, vermouth and bitters in the aperitif line-up enjoyed straight, on the rocks or as a spritz.
Matt recommends tonic as a great mixer for aperitifs. “Grab a bottle of anything you are interested in and mix it with tonic for a fantastic refresher.”
As much as a resurgence of interest in botanical and herbal drinks is creating awareness of aperitifs, so is their (sometimes) lower alcohol content and availability thanks to local distilleries a rapidly growing New Zealand industry that has Matt continuously confronted with new product.
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Advertise with NZME.“Especially vodka, gin and rum,” he muses. “We must have a natural affinity to create our own booze.”
There are great (and sometimes not-so-great) results. Of the former, Hastings Distillers is New Zealand's only certified organic spirit producer, and married co-owners Kate Galloway and husband David Ramonteu's winemaking backgrounds inform a lot of what they do.
Applying her interest in therapeutic and medicinal herbs, Kate spent years growing, foraging and distilling to create a library of more than 300 botanicals that are referenced in this two-person team’s distillations and infusions that include gin, a bitter orange aperitif, a red vermouth (both of which can be served on ice, with soda or mixed into cocktails), and a gin liqueur (for a pink gin, the way it should be).
“Essentially, what we are making is gin and things that complement it,” says David. “Vermouth is part of that. I am also working on a limited release of barrel-aged negroni.”
We can thank the Italian negroni, which is now a popular cocktail in New Zealand, for helping to educate us on vermouth and amaro the aperitifs that combine with gin to create a negroni and Kate and David extend that education through their Hastings distillery which opens four days a week for tastings and aperitifs.
“When we opened two-and-a-half years ago, people questioned why we closed at seven thirty in the evening, but they are understanding the aperitif culture more now, and it suits modern lifestyles it’s less of a commitment to gather for a few drinks before a meal than to organise a dinner party.”
The couple are at pains to say they’re not a bar. This is a tasting room with an elegant, 1920s French salon vibe, where they pretty much only serve what they make, as tasting flights and aperitifs, and a small selection of house-made foods for snacking.
David, who is French, says the advent of apero (short for aperitif) in New Zealand makes him happy because it is one of the most enjoyable traditions in Europe.
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Advertise with NZME.From micro to macro, but still super-premium, Scapegrace founders Dan McLaughlin, Mark Neal and Richard Bourke have opted to go big with a dramatic 36 ha development in Central Otago.
In what will be the biggest distillery in New Zealand, an expanded team will produce Scapegrace’s world-renowned gin, vodka and newly released single malt whiskey. Why so big?
“The market is there,” say Dan and Mark. “New World whiskey is in hot demand globally and the single malt whiskey volumes that we will get out of this compared to our current site is about a 20-fold increase.”
This new location has them working with local foragers to gain an understanding of the botanicals that grow wild and can be cultivated in the region for their own botanical farm its bounty incorporated into Scapegrace products. They will also move further into the aperitif space with a vermouth, using grapes from the neighbouring Prophet’s Rock vineyard.
The boys agree that our drinking habits are changing, with more people seeking better-quality product to drink less often.
“There is a certain type of drinker who wants to know how a product is made, where it’s made and what it’s made from. They understand why they pay more for it and that’s who we are talking to with all our products. We call them drinkers of character.”
Putting it another way, Mount Edward's Duncan Forsyth says "it's less about getting munted and more about visceral enjoyment and new experiences. Our tastes are constantly evolving."
Duncan and his team at the winery have been keeping up with, and perhaps even guiding, our evolution with the development of Mount Edward wines and grape-based spirits.
They started making vermouth in 2015 and it is an ongoing part of their portfolio. Duncan explains that essentially vermouth is wine red or white, dry or sweet or anything in between fortified with alcohol that has been infused with botanicals.
“Ours is a dry white vermouth, lower in alcohol at 17 per cent and elderflower from our garden the dominant aromatic.”
Mount Edward has a reputation for successfully trying new things and Forsyth says that their constant experimentation allows them to progress and adapt as winemakers. “It’s fun and intellectually challenging because it’s often a risk.”
Alongside vermouth, they were also first in New Zealand to serve wine on tap at Al Brown’s Depot, and were early adopters of skin contact wines and pét-nat a light, refreshing fizz that fits nicely into the aperitif category.
Duncan lets on that they have five years’ worth of wine aged with air in-barrel that is dry and minerally like a good sherry, so we have that to look forward to. They’re also lending their hand to brandy.
“Brandies are made from wine which has lots of acid which we had so we put some away in oak barrels in 2006. After 10 years, the results were encouraging, and we have made more and more each year. In another three years we can start to work on blends and look to release our first 10-year-old New Zealand brandy.”
Duncan thinks that trends are the reason that more winemakers aren’t working in this space. “New Zealand’s original Dalmatian winemakers were making these wine-based spirits, then they fell out of fashion and winemakers concentrated on premium wine. You weren’t considered serious if you were branching out and trying other beverages.”
It’s hard to make it work financially and these good things do take time, but New Zealand’s winemakers, distillers and brewers are heeding our call and helping to fill our glasses with something new, but old.
Aperitif vs Digestif
Venables says we need to understand that there are different drinks for times and places.
“Many New Zealanders order things just because they have decided that it’s ‘their drink’. A mojito is designed to be drunk on the beach in Cuba, not a rainy night in Ponsonby. No matter how well I make something, if it isn’t the right time and place, it won’t reach expectations.”
His advice for a great dining experience is to start with an aperitif, move onto wine and end with a digestif.
Aperitif
An aperitif (apero for short, aperitivo in Italian) is a beverage drunk before a meal that prepares us by opening the appetite and stimulating digestion.
Aperitif is also an occasion held dear by Europeans. Aperitifs tend to be dry and may be bitter. Dry white wine and bubbles sit in this category, as does a G&T, which combines botanical, bitter and bubbles perfectly.
Vermouth, dry sherries, brandies, ports and anise spirits such as pastis and absinthe (which Venables says is “definitely cool” and used extensively on Bar Magda’s cocktail menu) are here, as are cocktails, but the sweeter/heavier variations tend to suppress rather than stimulate the appetite.
Digestif
Digestif (or digestive in Italian) is a beverage to enjoy after a meal to aid digestion. The science is out on this, but it stems from the more herbal and bitter spirits.
What is certain is that this is the time when sweeter spirits, fortified wines, and liqueurs should make an appearance. They tend to be drunk neat so are higher in alcohol but, once again, designed to sip and savour.
