Sweet Vermouth is an aromatized, fortified wine. It is made by fortifying and sweetening a white wine base and balancing it with botanicals including, by definition, wormwood leaves, and as many as 50 other spices and herbs, the essences of which are extracted by  distilling, steeping them in wine, or macerating them in hot water or alcohol. While dry vermouths are typically sweetened with about 40 grams of sugar per liter, sweet vermouths can come in at up to 150. Most vermouths are produced in the French or Italian countryside and were originally developed as medicinals. Sourced from The PDT Cocktail Book.