🍷 Passerillage
Drying grapes right on the vine to make them sweeter.
Passerillage means letting grapes dry on the vine. The berries stay hanging after the normal harvest time. Water evaporates from them, and the sugar and flavour become more concentrated.
The word is French. The method is old and is especially tied to south-west France. The best example is Jurançon: grapes are picked late, after they have shrivelled on the vine. Sweet wines are made from them.
Passerillage is not the same as straw wine. For straw wine the bunches are cut and dried on mats or indoors, while in passerillage the grapes dry on the vine, which makes the method closer to late harvest. The risk is that weather can ruin the crop: rain, rot, birds. That is why it is not done everywhere or every year. It is one way to get sweetness without adding sugar.
How it connects to Wine
🍷 Passerillage → → → 🗺️ French wine → kind of → 🗺️ Wines of Europe → kind of → 🍷 Wine
Links
- Part of
- 🍷 Straw wine
- Related to
- 🗺️ French wine
- Similar and different
- 🍷 Late harvest wine, 🍷 Jurançon
Frequently asked questions
How does passerillage compare with a late harvest?
In both the grapes stay on the vine past the usual picking time, so the method is closer to late harvest than to straw wine.
Is it true that passerillage is the same as straw wine?
No. For straw wine, cut bunches are dried on mats or indoors; in passerillage the grapes dry on the vine.
What can go wrong with passerillage?
Weather can ruin the crop: rain, rot and birds.
What to read next
- 🗺️ French wine — The country's wine and winemaking: regions, grapes and appellations.
- 🍷 Late harvest wine — Wine from overripe grapes: under EU rules at least 15 % total alcohol with no enrichment.
Similar
🍷 Vin de paille · 🍷 Strohwein · 🍷 Vinsanto of Santorini · 🍷 Prošek · 🍷 Passito · 🍷 Vendanges tardives