Why Would Anyone Dry Perfectly Good Grapes?
Dear Reader,
Why would a winemaker harvest perfectly good grapes…and then deliberately leave them to dry?
Answering this question has been occupying a considerable amount of my attention this past week.
Why I’ve been thinking about dried grapes
I recently attended a wine event that brought me back to one of the most fascinating and demanding techniques in Italian winemaking: appassimento.
In simple terms, appassimento involves partially drying grapes after harvest and before fermentation. As the grapes lose water, their sugars, acids and flavour compounds become more concentrated. But the process also requires time, space, careful monitoring and considerable skill. The grapes must dry slowly and evenly while remaining healthy enough to produce a high-quality wine.
I have always been a huge fan of wines made this way because of their richness or intensity, and also because of the craftsmanship behind them. When appassimento is handled well, the result is distinctive: concentrated, layered and unmistakably different from a wine made from freshly harvested grapes.
That is precisely what keeps calling me back.
If you’re curious about how the method works, where it is used and why it can produce both dry and sweet wines, I’ve created two ways for you to explore this topic further.
Prefer to read?
Read: Appassimento, Explained!
Prefer to listen?
Listen to Episode 58 of The Wineitupanotch Podcast
Whether you choose the article or the podcast, I hope you’ll come away with a new appreciation for this ancient method of winemaking, and the gorgeous wines that it creates!
Cheers! xx
Did You Know?
Amarone della Valpolicella and Recioto della Valpolicella are two iconic wines from the Veneto region in northeast Italy that are both made using dried grapes i.e. the appassimento method! Amarone is fermented to dryness, while Recioto retains considerable residual sugar. The drying process creates concentration; what happens during fermentation helps determine the final style that you find in your wine glass.