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Passito

Italian term for a sweet wine or dessert wine made from raisined, i.e. usually air-dried or sun-dried grapes. The name is derived from "appassito" (wilt, appassire = wither, appassimento = withering, drying). The practice has an ancient tradition in Italy, as it was already practised in ancient times with the sultana wine Passum. In terms of the grape drying process, passito corresponds to straw wine.

Passito - Trauben auf Gestellen und Flasche

Drying the grapes

There are several methods for drying the grapes. They are either left on the vine for a very long time or dried after the grape harvest. In the latter case, they are hung on racks or spread out flat and loosely on wooden slats, straw or reed mats. The main purpose is to remove water and thus concentrate the sugar and extract content. This increases the potential alcohol content by at least a third.

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