Passito Rosso Italo Pietrantonj Dessert Wine 2009

It is a good dessert wine for people who do not like the overly sweet light wines like a more traditional Tokaji Aszu.

Passito Rosso Italo Pietrantonj Dessert Wine goes well with strong flavoured hard cheeses and, after meals, pastries and tarts. It is great with dark chocolate, the flavour of each complimenting and bringing out the best in each.

This wine is exclusively made by Seal Cerano Vineyard (340m asl) in the Peligna Valley, Vittorito. The soil there, at the foot of the mountains is a mix of earthy and clay. The Montepulciano d’Abruzzo grapes are hand picked only during the first week of November with the initial drying of the grapes having occurred on the vine. The meticulous selection of hand picked grapes is then further dried on racks for about two months in a ventilated and dehumidified room, until an overall weight loss of about 50% occurs

At the end of January following the year of harvest, the grapes undergo a light diraspapigiatura. Fermentation commences, but because of the high sugar content of the same, has a duration of about 20/30 days. It follows racking and subsequent pressing with manual press, then aged in stainless steel.

The average annual production is about 1500 bottles of 500 ml, so this is much more of a speciality than most dessert wines. Well worth trying if you get the opportunity.