Vin Santo

Vin Santo or Vino Santo (holy wine) is a style of Italian dessert wine. Traditional in Tuscany, these wines are often made from white grape varieties such as Trebbiano and Malvasia, though Sangiovese may be used to produce a rosé style known as Occhio di Pernice or eye of the partridge.

The wines may accurately be described as straw wines since they are most often produced by drying the freshly harvested grapes on straw mats in a warm and well ventilated area of the house.

Though technically a dessert wine, the wines can vary in sweetness levels from bone dry (like a Fino Sherry) to extremely sweet.

While the style is believed to have originated in Tuscany, examples of Vin Santo can be found throughout Italy and is an authorized style of wine for several Denominazione di origine controllata (DOCs) and Indicazione geografica tipica (IGTs).

The styles, color, sweetness and quality of Vin Santo can vary widely depending on the grape varieties and production methods used to make the wine.

While white grapes, such as Trebbiano and Malvasia in Tuscany, are most widely used, red grape varieties (such as Sangiovese) can be used to produce a rosé style wine.

When red grape varieties are used, the wine is often labeled as a Occhio di Pernice or "eye of the partridge," which has its own DOC classification in several regions of Italy.

The wines can be made to fit any style of sweetness levels from bone dry, almost Fino Sherry-like, to extremely sweet and on par with the botrytized wines of France and Germany.

The wines can even be fortified with grape spirit like Port added during fermentation. These fortified examples are usually labelled as Vin Santo Liquoroso.

The color of wine Vin Santo can range from a pale to dark amber to even neon orange. The flavors typical of Vin Santo often include nutty or raisin notes with honey and cream attributes.

In Italy it is traditional to serve the wine as a digestif at the end of the meal after espresso. It is often served with biscotti cookies that may be dunked into the wine.



Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinsanto


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