Cocchi Americano
Cocchi Americano is a 16.5% ABV white aromatised wine from Asti in Piedmont, made since 1891 to Giulio Cocchi's recipe. It is bittered with cinchona bark, gentian, wormwood and bitter orange peel, which makes it the usual choice when an old recipe calls for Kina Lillet. Its producer pours it chilled on ice, with soda and a strip of orange peel.
Quick Facts
Unopened, a cool cupboard. Opened, the producer asks for a cool place and a month at most, and the fridge is the dependable cool place.
Contains: sulphites. Recipes change: check the bottle.
About Cocchi Americano
Flavour Profile
Primary Flavours
Tasting Notes
Orange peel and soft fruit over white wine, then a dry, lasting bitterness from cinchona and gentian.
A bittered white wine from Asti
Cocchi Americano is white wine sweetened and steeped with a spirit infusion of herbs and spices, made in Asti since Giulio Cocchi created it in 1891. Its producer lists gentian flowers and leaves, wormwood, cinchona bark, bitter orange peel and elderflower among the botanicals. At 16.5% ABV it falls in the aromatised-wine category, alongside vermouth and Lillet, and bitterness is its defining trait.
Why it stands in for Kina Lillet
Lillet reformulated its white aperitif in 1986, and accounts differ on whether the quinine was reduced: Difford's Guide says it was cut sharply, DrinkBoy says the level never changed. Cocchi Americano has a clear cinchona bitterness, so when a recipe written before 1986 names Kina Lillet, it gives the bitter reading. Our Vesper gives a Cocchi version at the IBA's 7.5ml; it comes out drier and more bitter.
Cocchi Americano compared
Cocchi Americano
- Made in
- Asti, since 1891
- Strength
- 16.5% ABV
- Bittered with
- Cinchona, gentian, wormwood, orange peel
- Once opened
- Within a month, kept cool
Lillet Blanc
- Made in
- Podensac, Bordeaux
- Strength
- 17% ABV
- Bittered with
- Citrus liqueurs, a little cinchona
- Once opened
- Three or four weeks in the fridge
Dry vermouth
- Made in
- France and Italy
- Strength
- About 18% ABV
- Bittered with
- Wormwood and herbs
- Once opened
- Three or four weeks in the fridge
| Bottle | Made in | Strength | Bittered with | Once opened |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cocchi Americano | Asti, since 1891 | 16.5% ABV | Cinchona, gentian, wormwood, orange peel | Within a month, kept cool |
| Lillet Blanc | Podensac, Bordeaux | 17% ABV | Citrus liqueurs, a little cinchona | Three or four weeks in the fridge |
| Dry vermouth | France and Italy | About 18% ABV | Wormwood and herbs | Three or four weeks in the fridge |
How it is drunk in Asti
The producer's classic serve is simple: very cold, in a glass with ice, a dash of soda to open the aromas and a squeezed strip of orange peel. In summer, crushed ice replaces the cubes. The bitterness survives dilution, so it holds up as a long drink where many aperitif wines turn thin.
An open bottle has a month
It is wine, and the producer's advice for an opened bottle is a cool spot and a month at most. The fridge does both jobs. Left warm and half empty, its fresh orange fades first. Lillet Blanc keeps on much the same terms.
Using Cocchi Americano
Usage
In the Vesper, as the variation that replaces Lillet Blanc at the same 7.5ml for a more bitter, quinine-led drink, and in any pre-1986 recipe that names Kina Lillet. On its own, served the Asti way: chilled, on ice, with soda and orange peel.
Pro Tip
Its producer notes that the bitterness is not lost even when the drink is well diluted. That is why a long serve with plenty of soda still tastes of the bottle rather than of watered wine.
Top Tips
- Pour it at the measure a recipe gives for Lillet; it is no stronger, only more bitter.
- Chill it after opening and drink it within a month, as the producer advises.
- Try it alone over ice with soda first; it shows what it will bring to a gin drink.
Possible Substitutions
- Lillet: Softer and less bitter
Production Method
White wine and sugar with an infusion in alcohol of herbs and spices: gentian flowers and leaves, wormwood, cinchona bark, bitter orange peel and elderflower among them; 16.5% ABV.
History & Context
Giulio Cocchi created it in Asti in 1891, and the company says it has been made without interruption to his recipe since. The name, by the producer's account, joins amaricato, Italian for made bitter, with the American habit of drinking vermouth over ice with soda.