VERMOUTH  , an alcoholic beverage, the basis of which consists of a fortified and aromatized

white wine . The best French vermouth is made from the white wines of the Herault district . The wine is fortified with spirit up to a strength of about 15% of alcohol, and is then stored in casks exposed to the sun's rays for a year or two . Another portion of the wine is fortified up to a strength of about 50% of alcohol, and in this various aromatic and tonic materials are macerated, in casks which are exposed to the sun in the same way as the bulk of the wine . The two liquids are then mixed in such proportions as to make the strength of the ultimate product about '7% of alcohol by volume . Excellent vermouth is also manufactured in Italy, the produce of that country being generally of a " sweet," that made in France of a " dry " type .