🍷 Vin Santo
Also known as: Vin Santo del Chianti
A sweet amber Italian wine from dried grapes, aged for a long time in small barrels.
Vin Santo is a sweet Italian wine of golden to amber colour from Tuscany, made from grapes that are dried before pressing.
In Vin Santo del Chianti the main white grapes are Trebbiano Toscano and Malvasia Bianca lunga del Chianti, which together or alone must make up at least 70% of the blend. Selected bunches are dried in a ventilated room, traditionally an attic, on woven mats or hung from supports. Drying begins in September and lasts three to six months. The resulting must is very syrupy and rich in sugar, roughly a quarter to a third of the weight of the grapes.
The must ferments slowly in small sealed barrels called caratelli, which typically hold 50 to 100 litres and are made of woods such as chestnut, cherry, acacia and mulberry. Cold slows the fermentation and warmth restarts it, and air entering through the shrinking staves oxidises the wine a little. The rules require at least three years in caratelli, and at least four years for Riserva.
Some casks end up dry or semi-dry and others sweet or semi-sweet; today the wine is generally sweeter than it used to be.
How it connects to Wine
🍷 Vin Santo → → → 🍇 Trebbiano → kind of → 🍇 Grape varieties → kind of → 🍷 Wine
Links
- Part of
- 🍷 Passito
- Related to
- 🗺️ Italian wine, 🍇 Trebbiano
- Similar and different
- 🍷 Straw wine, 🍷 Passito, 📍 Tuscany, 🍷 Malmsey
- In other topics
- 🔄 Drying
Frequently asked questions
Is it true that every Vin Santo is sweet?
Not quite. Some casks end up dry or semi-dry and others sweet or semi-sweet, though today the wine is generally sweeter than it used to be.
What woods are the small barrels made of?
Caratelli, holding typically 50 to 100 litres, are made of woods such as chestnut, cherry, acacia and mulberry.
Which grapes go into Vin Santo del Chianti?
Trebbiano Toscano and Malvasia Bianca lunga del Chianti, alone or together at least 70% of the blend.
What to read next
- 🍇 Trebbiano — A name shared by several Italian white grapes; the best known is Trebbiano Toscano (Ugni Blanc), 111,000 ha worldwide (OIV, 2015).
- 🗺️ Italian wine — The country's wine and winemaking: regions, grape varieties, appellations.
- 🍷 Straw wine — Sweet wine made from grapes partly dried before pressing; in EU law, wine from raisined grapes.
- 🍷 Malmsey — The sweetest Madeira, made from Malvasia.