Term for a special sweet wine made from rosinized or dried grapes. Such wines were already produced in ancient times. There are different methods for this. The grapes, harvested late, are often air-dried for months on straw mats, reeds (hence also reed wine) or on wooden racks as shown in the picture. Due to the dehydration, extremely high sugar and total extract values are achieved. In Austria, this is a Prädikat wine type. Other wines produced in a similar form are Commandaria from Cyprus, Samos and Vinsanto from Greece, the wines produced according to the Passito or Recioto methods from Italy and the Vin de paille from France.
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Thomas Götz
Weinberater, Weinblogger und Journalist; Schwendi