🍷 Straw wine

Straw wine is sweet wine from grapes dried after picking, traditionally on straw or reed mats, on racks or hung up, so that water evaporates and sugar concentrates. Europe has many versions, from Jura vin de paille and Austrian Strohwein to Italian passito and Cypriot Commandaria, and their legal status differs. ¹²⁴⁹

What drying does. Withered grapes usually lose more than 30 % of their water, which concentrates sugars, acids and aromas. Drying in the sun takes from about five days in Andalusia to two or three weeks in Sicily; elsewhere bunches dry slowly indoors in ventilated rooms, which takes weeks or months. ¹⁰

The EU category and its limits. EU law defines «wine from raisined grapes»: no enrichment, grapes dried in the sun or shade, at least 16 % natural and total alcohol and at least 9 % actual. ¹ Not every straw wine uses it: Recioto della Valpolicella and Vin Santo del Chianti, both made from dried grapes, are registered as the category «wine», while Malvasia delle Lipari covers wine, liqueur wine and wine from raisined grapes. ⁶⁷⁸

Jura: vin de paille. In Arbois and Côtes du Jura, Chardonnay, Poulsard, Savagnin and Trousseau are picked by hand in several passes and dried off the vine for at least six weeks, on straw beds or trays or hung in ventilated rooms, without heating the air. At pressing the must holds more than 320 and less than 420 g/l of sugar, and the yield is only 20 hl/ha. ²³

Jura: the finished wine. Vin de paille needs at least 14 % actual and 19 % total alcohol and less than 25 meq/l of volatile acidity. It ages until 15 November of the third year after the harvest, at least 18 months in wood, and goes on sale from 1 December; the vintage is compulsory and pressing must be declared ten days ahead. Aromas recall candied fruit, prune, candied orange and honey. ²³

Austria: Strohwein. Under Austrian law, Strohwein or Schilfwein comes from fully ripe, sugar-rich berries stored for at least three months on straw or reeds or hung on strings, with a must of at least 25° KMW. If the must reaches 30° KMW after two months, pressing may start earlier; the wine may not carry any other Prädikat, and below these values it can only be sold as Qualitätswein. ⁴

Italy: passito, Recioto and Vin Santo. Italian law reserves «passito» for still DO and IGT wines from grapes dried naturally or in controlled rooms. ⁹ Recioto della Valpolicella dries 100–120 days in lofts called fruttai before a stopped fermentation keeps its sweetness; it has been known since the 13th century, a DOC since 1968 and a DOCG since 2010. ⁶ Vin Santo del Chianti grapes dry to at least 26 % sugar, and the wine ages in wooden casks of up to 5 hl until at least 1 November of the third year. ⁷

Cyprus and the Aeolian Islands. For Commandaria, Xynisteri needs at least 212 g/l and Mavro 258 g/l of sugar at harvest; after drying in the sun the must holds 390–450 g/l, continuous presses are banned, and the wine reaches at least 10 % alcohol without fortification. ⁵ Malvasia delle Lipari comes from seven volcanic islands off Sicily, where natural drying of the grapes is the traditional practice. ⁸

Why it matters to you. «Straw wine» is not one legal term, so read the appellation and terms such as vin de paille, Strohwein, passito or Recioto: they tell you how long the grapes dried and how the wine was made. ¹⁴⁹ These wines are very sweet and concentrated and are served in small glasses. ² The WHO stresses that there is no safe level of alcohol consumption. ¹¹