Where has the summer gone? September is on the doorstep, the harvest has begun in some areas, it is soon to begin in other, and in the #ItalianFWT group, we will be focusing on passito wines.

Passiti, that is sweet wines or dessert wines, belongs to a world all of their own in Italy. There is a vast range of sweet wines, not all of them can, in my opinion, be considered dessert wines as some are wines that might suit better on other occasions.

In the September theme, Appassimento all’italiano, Sweet Wines at Their Best, we will explore wines that have undergone the process of appassimento (dehydration), i.e. that the grapes are dried (raisinate) according to different methods. Therefore, also wines such as Amarone and Primitivo can be included even if they are not really sweet/dessert wines.

In wines made with the appassimento method, the grapes can be:

• Harvested late, which means that they dry or raisinate on the plant;
• Develop the ‘noble rot’ fungus (Botrytis cinerea) on the plant. Only certain grapes are suited to develop the noble rot such as Picolit, Grecchetto nei Muffati Orvietani, etc.;
• Dried on straw mats, in boxes, or hung on racks in drying rooms (fruttaie).

A rare wine is the ice wine, where the grapes are harvested and pressed while they are frozen. As you might imagine, ice wine is produced only in colder climates such as in Canada, Germany, and Switzerland.

You are spoiled for choices for the September theme – Appassimento all’italiano, Sweet Wines at Their Best – in the #ItalianFWT group.

From northern to southern Italy, you can choose among wine made with the appassimento method such as Vino Santo from Trentino made with the Nosiola grape to Recioto from Veneto made with Corvina, Corvinone, and Rondinella, Sagrantino Passito from Umbria, Malvasia delle Lipari, or Greco di Bianco Passito.

…or why not a Loazzolo from Piemonte, a Malvasia di Bosa, or Primitivo Dolce Naturale if you can find them. Take a look at the map below to get more inspiration for your article…

The September theme Appassimento all’italiano, Sweet Wines, at Their Best, is focused on all those wines made with the appassimento (dehydration) method. Therefore, also wines such as Amarone and Primitivo wines can be included even if they are not really sweet/dessert wines.

How To Participate

The Italian Food, Wine, and Travel group explore Italian wine, food, and travel-related topics every month. As already mentioned, the September theme will be Appassimento all’italiano, Sweet Wines at Their Best. So, you can combine the three as you like.

If you want to participate with an article, then send an email to me at grapevineadventures[at]gmail[dot]com. by Tuesday, 3 September where you include:

• Title of the article
• Your blog URL
• Your Twitter handle
• Links to any other of your social media accounts

Publish your article at the latest at 15.00 CEST / 9am EST on Saturday, 7 September, so everyone can have time to read and share each other’s articles. Always include the hashtag “#ItalianFWT” in every post you make about your article, especially on September 7th.

Be social and share as much as you can, share your fellow blogger friend’s articles in the group, and comment on each and every article.

Sponsored posts are OK if it is clearly disclosed. Please be sure to disclose if your post is sponsored or if you are describing a wine or other products for which you have received a free sample.

How To Participate in the Twitter Chat

On Saturday, 7 September, at 11 am ET / 17.00 CEST the Italian Food, Wine, and Travel group will explore Appassimento all’italiano, Sweet Wines at Their Best in the #ItalianFWT chat on Twitter.

All those of you who are interested in wine, food, and travel in relation to Italian sweet wines are very welcome to participate in the chat on Saturday. It is always great to have new fellow Italian wine and food enthusiasts to join and add new perspectives to the discussion.

Join us on Twitter on Saturday, 7 September, by typing in the hashtag #ItalianFWT in the search field on Twitter and click Enter, thereafter, you click Latest which will show you all the live tweets. In that way, you can take part in the live discussion. After the chat, you can also head over to read and comment on the article writers’ blog posts. It’s always nice to get feedback on the articles.