Passito and peaches – perfect late-summer fare (#ItalianFWT)

Last winter, I set sail with the Italian Food, Wine and Travel (#ItalianFWT) group of intrepid bloggers to explore (virtually) the islands of Italy.

My “travels” landed me in Sardinia and Sicily, but I couldn’t help but notice Pantelleria, a speck of an island to Italy’s southwest barely visible on this map. Closer to Tunisia than the mainland of Italy, Pantelleria is considered one of the satellite islands of Sicily.

This small volcanic island is known for its highly prized passito, a raisined and fortified dessert wine. I quickly perused the list of 2019 chats and was delighted to find passiti as the theme for September. Hope you can join us Sept. 7, starting at 11 am ET, to chat about passiti wines. Simply follow the hashtag, #ItalianFWT.

Fortunately, I was able to find a 2016 Cantine Pellegrino Pantelleria Passito Liquoroso DOC in a small but well-appointed wine shop in the Hartford, CT, area. For almost six months, I’ve been periodically opening my wine and spirits cabinet to ogle this amber-colored beauty. Now, the time has finally arrived to open it!

What is passito?

First, a little background on Italian passiti wines.

To quote Richard Marcis, who wrote an excellent article last year (Sept. 1, 2018) for Wine Words Wisdom:

“Passito is an Italian word for sweet, dessert-style wines made by a drying process called appassimento. This involves drying recently-harvested grapes in the sunshine on straw mats on valley slopes or, more typically, in airy rooms or barns, in order to concentrate the grapes’ flavors and sweetness prior to vinification. This drying process causes the grapes to lose water, shrivel and become full of concentrated sugars and flavors.”

As Marcis notes, the semi-dried grapes are pressed after three to six months. Some passito wines are aged in stainless steel tanks or cement vats while others spend some time in oak barrels. This same process is used to make dry red wines such as Amarone and Sforzato. The difference is that with passiti wines, the fermentation process is halted to achieve the desired level of sweetness.

Pantelleria – Playground for the rich and famous

If you’d like to cozy up to Giorgio Armani or Isabella Ferrari, craggy and windswept Pantelleria is the place for you. Both of these Italian celebrities have houses here. For details on where to stay and what to see and eat, check out this New York Times article by Amy Tara Koch. She writes:

“First inhabited during the Bronze Age, Pantelleria’s 32 square miles were subsequently conquered by the Carthaginians, the Arabs, the Romans and Roger II, King of Sicily, with clusters of dammusi — whitewashed, dome-roofed stone dwellings dating as far back as the 10th century — surviving it all. By the early 1800s, the island had been tamed anew by caper farmers and winemakers.”

Today, hot and dry Pantelleria is a mecca for divers, hikers and mountain bikers. Hot springs and thermal pools beckon those seeking the volcanic island’s therapeutic mud. Then there’s food from both Italian and Arabic traditions: avioli amari stuffed with ricotta and mint leaves; scented Pantelleria pesto, a dressing made with raw tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, basil and chili pepper; and couscous with fish and a variety of vegetables and legumes.

Desserts include mustazzola, a simple pastry filled with a mixture of flour, honey or cooked wine, cinnamon, candied orange peel and other spices; sfinci, a kind of pancake covered with honey, and Italian pastries such as cassateddri and pasticciotti. Yum!

As for the wine, the zibibbo saplings of Pantelleria – and agricultural practice used to produce passito di Pantelleria – together are a World Heritage Site (as of November 2014).

The zibibbo grape

Muscat of Alexandria, or zibibbo (Arabic for “raisin”), is a member of the large Muscat grape family. Its cousin, Muscat Blanc a Petit Grains, is generally considered better quality, but in the hands of Pantelleria’s winemakers, the otherwise musky zibibbo is transformed.

Passito di Pantelleria was granted Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC) classification in August 1971.

At a latitude of 36 degrees north, this wine region is home to some of Europe’s most southerly vineyards; only those in Crete and Cyprus are closer to the equator. The island’s sweet wines have been famous throughout the Mediterranean since ancient days. In Greek mythology, the goddess Tanit is said to have seduced Apollo by serving him Muscat wine from the island.

The wine – 2016 Cantine Pellegrino Pantelleria Passito Liquoroso DOC

Founded in 1880 on the west coast of Sicily, Cantine Pellegrino is one of the island’s largest producers of Marsala wines. In 1992, the Pellegrino family purchased property on Pantelleria.

As Marris explains, to protect the Pantellerian vineyards from the strong winds that buffet the island, vines are bush-trained – that is, they are low to the ground and planted in small holes dug into the soil as an added measure of protection. Rainfall is sparse – so the holes also catch and retain moisture from whatever showers do occur.

Marris further notes:

“The grapes are picked in stages starting in mid-to-late August with their coastal, sea-level vineyards. The hand-selected grapes are partially dried in Pantelleria’s robust sunlight until the grapes from the inland, higher-elevation vineyards are harvested in late September. As the late-harvested grapes are pressed and fermented the previously-harvested, now partially-dried grapes are added to the fermenting juice. The recently harvested berries provide the acidity while the partially-dried grapes supply the concentration and sugars.”

Wine-rectified spirit is added to stop the fermentation and preserve the sweetness of the wine. The wine then spends five months aging in stainless steel vats at controlled temperatures before bottling. The final product is labeled Liquoroso (fortified).

My tasting notes: Amber in color. Honeyed aroma of dried apricots and a hint of orange juice. Honey, almond and a slight note of anise coat the palate. Round mouthfeel and fortified alcohol level combine for a warm, medium+ finish. Medium acidity.

The pairing – Peach and fig salad

This lovely passito is a perfect dessert on its own. Or, consider a pairing that includes almonds, dried fruit, biscotti and soft cheeses. Pantellerians favor ravioli dolci stuffed with sweetened ricotta and cinnamon.

Because it was peach season in Pennsylvania – and I had a box of freshly picked peaches on the kitchen counter – I felt a calling to pair my produce with the passito. But I wanted to avoid a dessert that would be too sweet and overpower the wine, so I passed on pie and cobbler.

Instead, I chose a simple peach and fig salad. I sliced “figlets” in half lengthwise and seared them for less than a minute in a bit of melted butter. I placed the figlets and cut-up peaches together on a plate. Then I scattered roughly cut, mild Campirano cheese and torn fresh basil around the figs and peaches, and drizzled reduced Balsamic vinegar over the top. Heavenly – this dessert “salad” accomplished the goal. The peaches and figs complemented – without outshining – the passito.

Please enjoy the following passiti posts from the Italian Food, Wine and Travel bloggers group. Hope you can join us Sept. 7!

• Jennifer at Vino Travels will share “An Amarone Pairing with a Visit to Brunelli”
• Jeff at Food Wine Click will share “Dip Your Biscotti in Montefalco Sagrantino Passito“
• Camilla Mann at Culinary Adventures with Cam will share “Polpette al Forno + Sartarelli Verdicchio Passito 2013”
• Wendy Klik at A Day in the Life on the Farm will share “Appassimento Method explained in Layman Terms”
• Kevin Gagnon at Snarky Wine will share “Great Sweet Wines of the World Part 2: Passito”
• Cindy at Grape Experiences will share “Italian Night? Pair Appassimento from Abruzzo with Homemade Wild Mushroom Ravioli“
• Nicole at Somm’s Table will share “The Sweet Side of ILatium Morini: Sette Dame Recioto di Soave Classico with an Old-Fashioned Strawberry Cake“
• Gwendolyn at Wine Predator will share “Pasqua Puts a Little Love in Your Life Part 2: White and Red Appassimento“
• Katarina at Grapevine Adventures will share “3 Different Italian Appassimento Wines That You Will Love”