About Cueva Nueva

Cueva Nueva was founded in 2024 by David Neimanis and Phi Peinado, two Americans who had separately made their way to Spain and found themselves drawn to la hora del vermut: The unhurried, neighbourhood ritual of gathering mid-morning, pouring vermut over ice, and slowing down. That shared connection became the foundation of Cueva Nueva.

Rather than build from scratch, Neimanis and Peinado rooted the project in an existing bodega in Tarragona, a producer that has been working with the same techniques for over seventy years. The vermut is made from Garnacha Blanca and Airén sourced from partner vineyards in DO Terra Alta and DO Montsant, aromatised with a blend of 88 botanicals including wormwood, orange peel, gentian root, cinnamon, and native Mediterranean herbs. It is then aged in French oak barrels using the Solera system, with a small proportion of older vermut folded in for added complexity.

The goal was straightforward: something deeply traditional in method, but fresh in character. Cueva Nueva Vermut Rojo is bittersweet, low in alcohol, and built for the kind of drinking it was inspired by. Not a cocktail ingredient first, though it holds its own in a Negroni or Manhattan, but a drink that earns its place poured simply over ice, with an olive and a slice of orange.