The Story
So there I was, August 2019, behind the bar at The Club Car on a Saturday night. Full house. Every table taken. And the sommelier comes up to me with that look—you know the look. The "we have a problem" look.
"We're out of the Sancerre," she says. "And the Chablis. And basically everything white except the Nantucket Vineyard Grey Lady, which nobody orders because it's local and people assume local wine is terrible."
Now, here's where it gets interesting. Table twelve had just sent back their Grey Lady. A woman in pearls—I'm not stereotyping, she was literally wearing pearls—had taken one sip and said, "This is nice, but I wanted a real drink." Her words. "A real drink."
I don't know what came over me. Pride, maybe. Spite, probably. I grabbed the rejected glass, walked to the bar, and started improvising. Added some Triple Eight vodka. A whisper of dry vermouth. A lemon twist. Shook it cold enough to frost the glass.
I brought it back to her table. "Try this," I said. "It's called The Grey Lady Martini. Named after the island. And the wine. Which is also named after the island."
She took a sip. Paused. Took another sip. Then she said the six words every bartender wants to hear: "I'll have three more of these."
By the end of that night, I'd made forty-seven Grey Lady Martinis. We ran out of the wine we couldn't sell because people were ordering the cocktail. The irony was not lost on me.
The Recipe
Ingredients
- Triple Eight Vodka 2 oz
- Nantucket Vineyard Grey Lady wine 1 oz
- Dry vermouth 1/2 oz
- Lemon twist for garnish
Instructions
- Chill your glass. Put a coupe or martini glass in the freezer for at least five minutes. Cold glass isn't optional—it's essential.
- Combine in a shaker. Add the vodka, Grey Lady wine, and vermouth to a cocktail shaker filled with ice.
- Shake hard. Shake for about 15 seconds until the outside of the shaker is frosted. You want this cold.
- Strain into chilled glass. Double strain if you want it crystal clear. I usually do.
- Express the lemon. Hold a lemon peel over the drink, twist it to express the oils, then drop it in or drape it on the rim.
- Serve immediately. This drink does not improve with waiting.
Porter's Notes
The Grey Lady wine is doing a lot of work here—it adds acidity, a hint of minerality, and that subtle something that says "this is from somewhere." If you can't get Grey Lady, any crisp, dry white blend will work, but you'll lose the Nantucket connection. And honestly, that's half the point.
Don't skip the vermouth. I know there's a trend of "dry" martinis with just a whisper of vermouth, but this drink needs the balance. Trust me.
The Cisco Connection
Nantucket Vineyard Grey Lady is their signature white blend, named after the island's nickname (from the fog that rolls in and paints everything grey). The wine itself is bright and acidic with stone fruit notes—exactly what you want in a cocktail that's pretending to be a martini but playing by its own rules.
Combined with Triple Eight Vodka—distilled eight times and made with Nantucket well water—you've got a drink that's entirely island-made. That matters to some people. It matters to me.
Serve This When...
- You want to impress someone who thinks they know about martinis
- The sunset is doing that thing over the harbor
- You're explaining to mainland friends what makes Nantucket special
- Someone says "local wine can't be good"
The Honest Truth
If you're making this at home, you'll need to bring back (or order) both the Grey Lady wine and the Triple Eight vodka. Neither is widely available on the mainland. But that's kind of the point—this is a Nantucket drink for people who've been to Nantucket and want to remember it.
In a pinch, any good vodka and any crisp white wine will give you something in the neighborhood. But it won't be The Grey Lady Martini. It'll be a cousin. A nice cousin, but still.