One wine making technique that stands out for its artistry and complexity is ‘Appassimento’, a traditional method with roots deep in Italian winemaking history.
Appassimento derived from the Italian word "appassire" meaning "to dry," is a meticulous process that involves drying grapes before fermentation. This technique concentrates the sugars, flavours, and aromas within the grapes, resulting in wines with incredible depth and richness.
The process begins with the careful selection of grapes - varieties known for their suitability to drying, such as Corvina, Primitivo and Rondinella. The most common drying technique involves laying the grapes out in well-ventilated spaces or on racks and straw mats, allowing them to undergo a gradual drying process. This dehydration, typically lasting several weeks or even months, causes the grapes to lose water content while intensifying their sugars and flavours.
A crucial aspect of the appassimento technique involves periodically rotating the drying grape clusters. This rotation ensures uniform drying and prevents mould or uneven concentration of flavours.
One unusual variation of the technique is called ‘Il Giro del Picciolo’. After the grapes reach maturity in mid-August, a twisting/pinching of the stalk of the bunches effectively strangles the grapes of any more nourishment. This results in a 25- 30% loss of water over 10 - 14 days – a drying technique directly on the vines. Our Primitivo Appassimento ‘Peciso’ from Puglia is produced using this technique, and the result is an incredibly concentrated, rich and ripe red.
The grapes are then hand-picked, with 25% of the wine aged in a mixture of French & American oak. The nose is complex with aromas of cherries, raspberries and currants. The oak ageing adds a pleasant toasty, spicy character. The palate is full bodied with flavours of dried fruit, slight raisin character, plums, damsons, garrigue and a hint of spice. The finish is rich and full with good, sweet fruit flavours in an excellent balance.
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