SC - Grapes VERY LONG for the gentle who missed the thread

[ChannonM at aol.com]

In a message dated 11/15/99 9:49:26 AM Eastern Standard Time, troy at asan.com 
writes:

<< 
 IIRC, in Cato's De Agricultura, _some_ wines were made from partially
 dried grapes (not to mention a variety of other simply astonishing
 techniques, like adding seawater) >>


This wine is known as passum and again Flowers and Rosenbaum consider this a 
sweet wine, actually substituting a sweet Spanish wine. They quote Palladius 
as saying that one can use it like honey. This may very well be the case that 
it can be used like honey, but how do we know its sweetness? If you read the 
passage from Columella on page 25 of the aforementioned Apicius translation, 
it describes the method of using grapes left on the vine and dried in the sun 
then soaked with "the best possible must". Then they are pressed with 
"freshest must you have made from other grapes that were left to dry in the 
sun for three days". This is then mixed and pressed again.  This is 
contrasted against using another method of making passum whichh is quoted as 
"even sweeter than the passum described above". 

What I am trying to demonstrate here is that there are different types of 
must used for different wines and that one passum may be sweeter than 
another, but even so this does not demonstrate the sugar content of the end 
product. I did some research on possible modern wines that might mimic the 
method described by Columella. What I found was a wine called "Amarone 
valpolicella DOC  Classico" $20-$30 per 350 ml (a very expensive wine). This 
wine is made from Corvina, Rondinella and Molinara grape varieties coming 
exclusively from the "Jago" zone of the district of Negrar.(Province of 
Verona). The grapes selected are set out to dry, pressed towards the end of 
January and fermented using the "submerged cap method" (I still  don't know 
what this means althouhgh I've been looking I want to know it's significance) 
. Long aging takes place in wooden barrels of varying sizes and then for 6/8 
months in the bottle, giving this wine smoothness and elegance. This wine has 
a ruby red colour with hints of garnet. A Complex bouquet with  red fruits 
and spices. Full and dry flavour, well balanced and with great body. A wine 
wiht great substance, excellent  with meats. 

I was told by the wine specialist that the sugars are converted into a fairly 
high alcohol content (14.8) and full bodied flavour instead of sweetness. 
This might help to explain how a wine might be made from a raisin, yet, not 
result in what we modern cooks expect to be a sweet taste. 

It's something to give thought to.

Hauviette
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