Straw wine

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Straw wine, or raisin wine, is a wine made from grapes that have been dried off the vine to concentrate their juice. 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 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

History

The technique dates back to pre-Classical times with wines becoming fashionable in

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.^[3]

Columella discusses the

Barossa Valley producer, Turkey Flat Vineyards has been experimenting with this style since 2002 with their 100% Marsanne named 'The Last Straw'. Air-dried on racks for approximately six weeks it is fermented in new oak and then bottle post-fermentation to retain freshness. Residual sugar sits at a comparatively low 59g/L.^[5]

Austria/Germany

Strohwein or Schilfwein is an

The Strohwein Prädikat exists only in Austria, not in Germany.

Croatia

The raisin wine most commonly seen in Croatia is Prošek which is traditionally from the southern area of Dalmatia. It is made using dried wine grapes in the passito method. There are only a few commercial producers as it is typically homemade.

Czech Republic

Slámové víno is the

Vin de Paille is the French for 'straw wine', made only in the

Monemvasia. Monemvasia-Malvasia is a recreation of the famous Malmsey or Malvasia wine traded by the Venetians and made originally here in the Southeast Peloponnese. The version made by Monemvasia Winery has won many awards recently.

It is worth noting that Monemvasia-Malvasia is NOT made from any of the various grapes called Malvasia. It is made from a blend of grapes including Kidonitsa,

Samos Some of the famed sweet wines of Samos Island are also made of sundried Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains grapes. The most widely available is Nectar, made by the EOSS cooperative. The small wineries Vakakis and Nopera also make examples. Many growers also make private productions, especially around the village of Platanos.

Liastos wines are also made on the islands of Paros, Evvia, Tinos, Ikaria and Crete.

Italy

In Italy, the generic name for these wines is passito. The method of production is called rasinate (to dry and shrivel). The Moscato Passito di Pantelleria has already been mentioned above. Other famous passiti include Malvasia delle Lipari Passito D.O.C., Vin Santo in Tuscany, Recioto around Verona, the historical (made since Roman times) Caluso Passito made from Erbaluce grapes from the Canavese region in Piedmont and Sciachetrà from the

Tuscany

Vin Santo is made in Tuscany from hand-picked grapes that are hung from the rafters to dry. They are fermented in small cigar-shaped barrels called caratelli, and then aged in the caratelli for up to ten years in the roof of the winery. The wine develops a deep golden or amber color, and a sweet, often nutty, taste. Vin Santo is often served as '

Piedmont

Passito di Caluso, precious straw wine made from Erbaluce di Caluso best grapes harvested, it stays 6 months on straw mats to dry, then after a soft pressing it goes in oak barrels for at least 4 yrs. before being bottled. It is one of the three historical passito wines: Pantelleria, Sciacchetrà and Caluso.

Veneto

The more famous are the passito wines made from the blend of red wine grapes typical of

Recioto della Valpolicella is regarded as a good companion to chocolate desserts because of the high acidity in cocoa.

Refrontolo passito is a passito red wine produced in a hilly area close to Conegliano in the Treviso province. In a few hectares of this small area in the core of

Recioto di Soave is the passito white wine from around Verona, made from the Garganega grape used in Soave. The name comes from the word, recie that in the native Venetian language means 'ears', a reference to this variety's habit of forming two small clusters of extra-ripe grapes sticking out of the top of the main bunch, that were preferred for this wine. It seems to be an ancient wine, in the 5th century AD, Cassiodorus refers to a sweet white wine from Verona that sounds like Recioto di Soave.^[11] A classic accompaniment can be the Christmas sweets panettone and Pandoro of Verona.

Torcolato is also

De Trafford created the first Vin de Paille to be released under the new appellation "Wine from Naturally Dried Grapes" in 1997.[10] They use 100% Chenin blanc.

Spain

A number of wineries produce straw wine, known in Spanish as vino de pasas, including Bodegas Oliveros and Bodegas Gonzalez Palacios. Most involve a blend of two grapes, the first one usually a Muscat.

In Galicia straw wine is known as viño tostado, and is traditionally produced at Ribeiro (DO).

Dominican Republic

Barcelo Winery produces a straw wine known as Caballo Blanco primarily from Alexandrian Muscat.^{[citation needed]}

United States

When commercial wine was banned during Prohibition from 1920 to 1933, homemade raisin wine became a popular substitute. Raisin producers circuitously promoted the practice by issuing warnings against winemaking that were so detailed as to function as winemaking instructions.^[13]

Some California wineries are experimenting with the vin de paille style. Tablas Creek Vineyard, in Paso Robles, make one from 100% Roussanne, one from 100% Mourvèdre, and one from a blend of Roussanne, Viognier, Grenache blanc and Marsanne,^[14] while cult winery Sine Qua Non makes one from 100% Sémillon. Stony Hill winery, a Chardonnay producer in the Napa Valley, makes a 100% Semillon in the Italian passito style.^{[citation needed]} Qupé, in Santa Barbara County, makes a vin de paille from 100% Marsanne, sourced from the Sawyer Lindquist Vineyard.^{[citation needed]}

Barboursville Vineyards in Virginia produces a straw wine in the Italian passito style, based on Moscato Ottonel and Vidal grapes.^[15] Potomac Point Winery, also in Virginia, produces a straw wine based on the Petit Manseng grape.^[16][17] Likewise, King Family Vineyards in Crozet, Virginia produces a 100% Petit Manseng in the vin de paille style, called "Loreley".^[18]

In Texas, it was illegal to make wine from dried grapes until 1999, when following pressure from Shawn and Rocko Bruno, who wanted to recreate the raisin wines of their Sicilian heritage, the Alcoholic Beverage Code was amended.^[19]

Ravines Wine Cellars in the Finger Lakes produces a vin de paille from Chardonnay grapes. The cool climate of the Finger Lakes gives the grapes a good acidity like the Jura region of France.^[20]

Silver Springs Winery in the Finger Lakes produces a vin de paille from 100% Cayuga White and 100% Pinot Grigio.^[21]

Denmark

A Danish winery, Vester Ulslev Vingaard, has made wine from dried grapes since 2007. The varieties used are Léon Millot and Cabernet Cantor. The grapes are dried for 4–5 weeks using forced ventilation. During that time the grapes lose up to 50% of their weight, the remaining juice being similarly more concentrated. The wines produced are red, dry wines with a level of alcohol of more than 15%. Vester Ulslev Vingaard sees the use of dried grapes as a means to make more powerful wines in a cool climate and also as a means to redress deficits in concentration and sugars in bad seasons. In 2010 a double-fermented (ripasso-method) wine was also produced using the pomace of the first wine.

See also

• Dessert wine
• Late harvest wine
• Sweetness of wine
• Vin Santo

References