Let's Discover Passito Wines Together

Fascinating and charming with aromas ranging from ripe fruit to jam, from sweet spices to enamel-like notes, vini Passiti captivate every palate with their softness.
They are often obtained from Vendemmia Tardiva, meaning the grape clusters are left to over-ripen directly on the vine, harvested weeks after the usual picking. During these weeks, the berries undergo a greater concentration of sugar content, particularly of glucose and fructose, sweeter and of higher quality than the former. Some grape varieties, especially aromatic ones, lend themselves excellently to this type of drying, such as moscati, malvasie, riesling and gewurztraminer.

In Alsace we find the AOC Alsace Vendage Tardive where the protagonists are indeed muscat, riesling, pinot gris and gewurztraminer. Often for the Vendage Tardive as well, the attack of Botrytis Cinerea is exploited, the particular noble mold that dehydrates the cluster making it grayish and shriveled but concentrating all the sugary substances. A very varied terroir that of Alsace, where schist, chalk, granite and limestone follow one another, all accompanied by the action of the Rhine river, complicit in a climate with very sunny autumns, which allow the cluster in phenolic maturation a greater concentration of substances. In this so favorable landscape, Botrytis Cinerea returns to attack, ennobling the clusters of riesling, muscat, pinot gris and Gewurztraminer. The grape varieties thus botrytized are harvested in several passes weeks after the Vendage Tardive. In this way the wines obtained can benefit from the AOC Alsace Sélection de Grains Nobles.

Remaining in French territory, when speaking of passito wines and meditation wines one cannot fail to mention the AOC Sauternes. The fortune of these places is given by the mitigating action of the waters of the Ciron river, which creates evening mists that alternate with morning humidity and warm afternoon climate. This particular noble mold enriches the cluster with sugar and glycerin responsible for softness and attenuates all the other "hard" components. Sauternes is generally composed of 70% sémillon, 25% sauvignon blanc and the remainder muscadelle. Silky softness, it is carried along by aromas of overripe fruit with hints of spices. On the birth of this great wine, legend has it that at harvest time the owner was not present at the Chateau and no one could touch the clusters until his return. But once he returned, the clusters appeared shriveled and grayish, everything seemed to be lost. Yet at the moment of tasting, these small berries released an unparalleled flesh. It was vinified and the result was a wine that was anything but ordinary.

In the Jura region we can taste the Vin De Paille, so called because the clusters were left to dry on straw beds but today we can use wooden racks. The grape varieties used are chardonnay for its olfactory notes, savagnin for the body and elegance is obtained with poulsard. Fermentation takes place slowly in small barrels called Feuillette for a minimum of thirty-six months. Amber in color, on the nose we find jams and candied fruit intertwined with sweet spice aromas, against a backdrop of savoriness that we then find on the palate. Pure savagnin for the production of Vin Jaune, this is a late harvest wine that ages for 6 years in small wooden barrels. Over the years a film formed by yeasts develops on the surface, allowing the wine beneath to undergo a slow evolution sous voile. The various wines are then assembled to obtain a golden wine with toasted aromas of great structure and minerality.

There is another technique for obtaining an excellent passito wine, namely on-vine drying. In some southern Italian areas where the climate is favorable to this particular technique, we witness a great concentration of substances in the berries since water evaporation is greater. One can also resort to forced drying, aided by artificial ventilation blowing air at around 30°C at humidity levels of approximately 55-60%. But on an island like Pantelleria where African winds blow, all of this happens naturally in the sun on racks with clusters laid out in open crates. Moscato di Alessandria known as Zibibbo, was introduced by the Arabs for the production of raisins and here in this volcanic territory it finds its home ground. It is trained as a low bush vine in holes 20 cm deep to protect the small vines from strong winds. In the glass we find all the aromas that take us back to the island where this unique grape variety grows, raisins, syrupy fruit that shifts toward jam. The palate pleasantly cradled by a balanced savoriness is carried along by a long lingering finish.

Another great pride is Malvasia delle Lipari, the jewel of the Aeolian Islands, which is also obtained in this case from grapes left to dry on the vine or on racks. The traditional amber-yellow color reveals a bouquet of remarkable breadth, honey, aromatic herbs and almost balsamic notes. On the palate it is pleasantly soft and persistent.
Wines undisputably beloved and obtained from grape varieties that have fortunately been rediscovered, as happened with Passito di Noto rightly reclaimed by Planeta and Moscato Siracusa revalued by Nino Pupillo. Two wines obtained from Moscato Bianco that express themselves in different ways. Planeta rediscovers in Passito di Noto the essence of an ancient grape variety capable of producing a wine with vivid aromas of exotic and candied fruit both on the olfactory and gustatory examination, with a long and pleasant finish. The other Moscato, obviously obtained from on-vine over-ripening, turns out to be a passito of great personality and saline minerality. Amber in color, it reveals on the nose candied fruit and apricot jam with added spices. The balance and softness of this wine give way to an extremely long persistence.

In my opinion it is not right to compare Italian passito and more generally Italian wine with French wine, since we are dealing with different terroirs, climates and philosophies. It is our senses that must guide us in the discovery of these wonderful wines that can be liked or not liked, or preferring the Italian to the French and vice versa...but a good taster must also analyze wine objectively, recognizing merits where they exist or demerits without being too conditioned by the taste of one's own palate. Comparing different wines, why not? It could become an educational exercise in discovering the various peculiarities of each grape variety.