passito

Straw wine, or raisin wine, is a wine made from grapes that have been dried to concentrate their juice. The result is similar to that of the ice wine process, but is a much older process and suitable for warm climates. The technique dates back to pre-Classical times with wines becoming fashionable in Roman times and in late Medieval/Renaissance Europe when wines such as Malmsey ('Malvasia' originally from Greece) and Candia (from Crete) were highly sought after. Traditionally, most production of these wines has been in Greece, the islands of Sicily, Cyprus, Northern Italy and the French Alps. However, producers in other areas now use the method as well.

Under the classic method, after a careful hand harvest, selected bunches of ripe grapes will be laid out on mats in full sun. (Originally the mats were made of straw, but these days the plastic nets for the olive harvest are likely to be used). This drying will probably be done on well exposed terraces somewhere near the wine press and the drying process will take around a week or a little longer. Small scale productions were laid out on flat roofs; however, if this still happens, it is extremely rare nowadays.

Under less labour-intensive versions of the technique, easily portable racks might be used instead of mats or nets, or the grapes are left lying on the ground beneath the vines, or even left hanging on the vine with the vine-arm cut or the stem twisted. Technically speaking the grapes must be cut off from the vine in order for the wine to be a 'straw wine'. If the grapes are just left to over-ripen before being harvested, even if this is to the point of raisining, this is a 'late harvest' wine.

The exact technique used varies according to local conditions, traditions and increasingly modern innovations. In some regions the grapes are laid first in the sun and later covered or they are covered at night to protect them against dew fall. In cooler, damper regions, the entire drying process takes place indoors in huts, attics or greenhouses with the bunches lying on racks or hanging up with good air circulation.

Straw wines are typically sweet to very sweet white wines, similar in density and sweetness to Sauternes but potentially sweeter. They are capable of long ageing. The low yields and labour-intensive production method means that they are quite expensive. Around Verona red grapes are dried, and are fermented in two different ways to make a strong dry red wine (Amarone) and a sweet red wine (Recioto della Valpolicella).

History

Excavations in Cyprus on the Neolithic site at Erimi have revealed that sweet wine was made here some 6000 years ago. This is the earliest appearance of sweet wine in the Mediterranean region. A wine grape wine known as the Cypriot Manna (or Nama). Similar principles were used to make the medieval Cypriot wine Commandaria, which is still produced today.

The process of making raisin wines was described by the Greek poet Hesiod in mainland Greece around 800 BC. Various Mediterranean raisin wines were described in the first century AD by Columella and Pliny the Elder. Pliny uses the Greek term for honey wine for the following raisin wine, "The grapes are left on the vine to dry in the sun...It is made by drying grapes in the sun, and then placing them for seven days in a closed place upon hurdles, some seven feet from the ground, care being taken to protect them at night from the dews: on the eighth day they are trodden out: this method, it is said, produces a liquor of exquisite bouquet and flavour. The liquor known as melitites is also one of the sweet wines." Columella discusses the Passum wine made in ancient Carthage. The modern Italian name for this wine, passito, echoes this ancient word, as does the French word used to describe the process of producing straw wines, passerillage. Perhaps the closest thing to passum is Moscato Passito di Pantelleria from Zibibbo, a variety of the ancient muscat grape, produced on Pantelleria, an island in the Strait of Sicily (50 miles from Tunisia) opposite to where Carthage used to be.

Australia

Barossa Valley producer, Turkey Flat Vineyards has been experimenting with this style very successfully since 2002 with their 100% Marsanne aptly name
'The Last Straw'
Air-dried on racks for approximately 6 weeks it is fermented in new oak & now bottle post-fermentation to retain freshness. Residual sugar sits at a comparatively low 59g/L.

Austria/Germany

Strohwein or Schilfwein is an Austrian wine term in the '' Prädikatswein'' category which designates a straw wine, a sweet dessert wine made from raisin-like dried grapes. ''Stroh'' is German for straw, while ''Schilf'' means reed.

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