(TheGuardian) - The southern French port of Marseillan’s premier tourist attraction is the Noilly Prat factory, where the world’s second most famous vermouth is made. I’ve been to Marseillan, and I love Noilly Prat, but I didn’t visit the premises because my wife was suffering from galloping morning sickness when we were there. One day I’d love to see where the magic happens – not least for the art nouveau spiral staircase designed by someone called Gustave Eiffel. I wonder what happened to him ...

Instead, we stayed my aunt’s house in nearby Pomérols. It wasn’t a bad way to spend a holiday – for me at least.

All around us were hectares of piquepoul vines (it’s wonderfully French that the grape is spelt differently to the wine). These grapes were originally planted to go into Noilly Prat, but declining vermouth sales meant that local farmers had to find a different outlet for them. Happily, they make an extremely good, piquant white wine. The word “piquepoul” means something like “lip sting” in Occitan.

The process of turning the piquepoul grapes into Noilly Prat is a complex one. Wine made from Clairette grapes is used as well – both are fortified and then left outside in barrels to bake and oxidise in the sun, where they take on that distinctive nutty, sherried taste. This unusual ageing process is shared with the fortified wines of Rivesaltes, Maury and Banyuls a bit further up the coast. The aged wines are then blended and steeped with herbs, spices and fruit peel and sweetened with a special flavoured mixture of alcohol and grape juice. 

There’s a British link, too. The firm was founded in 1855 by Louis Noilly and his son-in-law Claudius Prat, who was from England. Therefore the T in Prat is pronounced. Noilly should be pronounced in the French way, though I just say “Noi Lee”, and nobody seems to mind. The ordinary dry Noilly Prat is superb in a martini, and great to cook with instead of sherry. They also make a rarer, red vermouth: it’s sweeter and more orangey, and it makes a good long drink with tonic and lemon. There’s also an ambre version, but I’ve never met anyone who has seen, let alone tried it.