Italian term for a sweet wine or dessert wine made from raisined, i.e. mostly air-dried or sun-dried grapes. The name is derived from "appassito" (German: welk, appassire = withering, appassimento = withering, drying). This has an ancient tradition in Italy, as it was already practised in ancient times for Passum raisin wine. In terms of the drying process of the grapes, Passito corresponds to straw wine. There are different drying methods. Either the grapes are left on the vine or dried only after the grape harvest. In the second case the grapes are hung on racks or spread out flat and loose on wooden slats, straw or reed mats.
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Roman Horvath MW
Domäne Wachau (Wachau)