Noilly-Prat, more than just an aperitif

  • Chais Noilly-Prat
  • stockage Noilly-Prat
  • Chais Noilly-Prat - Marseillan
  • Chais Noilly-Prat
  • Chais Noilly - Prat
Chais Noilly-Pratstockage Noilly-PratChais Noilly-Prat - MarseillanChais Noilly-PratChais Noilly - Prat

After a nice walk on the Canal du Midi, a short break in Marseillan where I decided to visit the Noilly Prat House. I want to know more about this vermouth, made here for more than 200 years, and why not, taste this famous drink!

  • - © Noilly-Prat

A recipe with a well-kept secret

The guided tour begins with the discovery of a cellar, where huge oak tuns are placed on each side, giving this area a very special atmosphere. I learned that Noilly Prat is a vermouth, produced from white wine and a secretly kept mixture of aromatic plants such as chamomile and coriander. There are also bitter orange peels and nutmeg. Our guide makes us smell a glass of the mixture... hurry the tasting!
  • - © OFFICE DE TOURISME ARCHIPEL DE THAU MEDITERRANEE
  • - © Noilly-Prat
  • - © OFFICE DE TOURISME ARCHIPEL DE THAU MEDITERRANEE
  • - © OFFICE DE TOURISME ARCHIPEL DE THAU MEDITERRANEE

An ancestral know-how


We continue our journey outdoors, where barrels are stored as far as the eye can see, in an open-air enclosure. Four seasons, a full year, is the ideal length of time for the white wine to mature. Only then will the last stage of production take place in the mystery room, that of maceration, during which the Noilly-Prat will be perfumed with all the aromas that make it unique.

Then comes the historical part, where we discover that the history of Noilly-Prat is above all a history of family and ancestral know-how. Exciting! After this little jump into the past, it's time for a tasting. Original or extra dry, red, amber, my heart is swinging! I heard that we are organizing cocktail workshops here, it will be the opportunity to come back!