Appassimento

[NCWC]

Has anyone tried making appassimento style wine from fresh-picked grapes?

This style has become popular in Niagra on the Lake region in Canada. The wineries using it are making outstanding reds.

I live in the Cleveland Oh area and we have a large wine area east of Cleveland,
Geneva on the Lake. Some of the wine being produced there are pretty good. Some of the whites are excellent

I was thinking of making a 30 gal barrel appassimento style or a Cab Franc

I've read about doing it just wonder if anyone has tried it and the pro's and con's

Thanks

 

[NCWC]

From the looks of it, no one has tried this style.

 

[Boatboy24]

I faked it with a Valpolicella juice bucket a few years ago by putting raisins in secondary. Worked OK, but not great.

 

[NCWC]

Trying to restart this thread
I will be making appassimento style wine like they do in Ontario Canada this fall. We will be using Cab Franc or Merlot. I had a bottle of Angles Gate Cab Franc 2014 Appassiemtno last night and it was very very good.

Plan on using EC1118 yeast I would like to make 30 gal so I will start with about 1000 lbs of grapes

 

[Boatboy24]

How will you be drying your grapes? And can you share more specifics about your plan?

 

[pgentile]

Curious on the drying method as well. Especially for a 1000 lbs. Here is a link with a photo of a "fruttaio". http://www.tommasiwine.it/en/the-appassimento/

Going to need a large drying space and it takes 3 months to dry. But the link is a winery in Italy, is it done different in Canada?

 

[NCWC]

I have access to a barn with a hay loft
We saved the plastic bins from the Chilean wine from the spring. We plan to put about 10lb per plastic box we have over 100 of them

I read to place the grape bunches all one direction and cull out damaged fruit.

We will also have a fan blowing air across the grapes and inspect every few days for any rot or mold. 10-15 % botrytis is ok. Drying time about 20-60 days. Our goal is 26 Brix

 

[Bartman]

So what benefit does this method have, other than concentrating the flavor/sugar/tannins? That should be enough, but is there anything else beyond that? Seems like a lot of work unless it creates a substantially better wine. Is this a necessary chore if the grapevines received a late rain that swelled the berries?

 

[GreenEnvy22]

I live in Niagara and I didn't know people around here do that drying method.
We certainly do lots of ice wine, but with that the grapes are left on the vine until its quite cold. then picked in the cold, crushed in the cold, and pressed in the cold.
My friends and cousins can't take winter vacations until harvest. Sometimes they get lucky and we get a few days in a row where temp doesn't rise above -10C, but sometimes it's not until March.

 

[WeimarWine]

Has anyone tried making appassimento style wine from fresh-picked grapes?

NCWC, I posted yesterday under this forum about Vin Santo style dessert wine. We went from 19 Brix to 25 Brix in 4 weeks drying whole clusters in slotted harvest lugs and slotted harvest trays. Drying was inside my winery at about 60 to 69 degrees. Air was constantly blowing on the grapes from our AC and from 2 box fans.

WeimarWine

 

[NCWC]

We have quite a few lugs from last spring grapes to dry the grapes in. WE will have a constant fan on them and will monitor for mold and Brix, we will hand place each bunch in the lugs. The point of the whole process is to make a higher Brix and higher intensity wine from grapes grown in a cold region like Cleveland Ohio area. The wine made this style up in Niagara of Canada are outstanding, price point is 30-40 a+ a bottle and worth it. I am leaning towards a 75 Cab Franc 25 Merlot blend

 

[phasee]

I live in Niagara and I didn't know people around here do that drying method.

Colaneri winery makes all of their wine in an appassimento style. Pretty good wines, little bit pricier, but I suppose that is down to lower yields with drying the grapes.

Good luck @NCWC with your appassimento!

 

[jburtner]

I have done this with an amarone bucket and some extra raisins. Have not dried my own grapes for this but would be cool! I love a good amarone and mine isn't ready for bottle yet but planning to bottle next spring.

Cheers!
-johann

 

[sour_grapes]

So what benefit does this method have, other than concentrating the flavor/sugar/tannins? That should be enough, but is there anything else beyond that? Seems like a lot of work unless it creates a substantially better wine. Is this a necessary chore if the grapevines received a late rain that swelled the berries?

The best wine I have ever had, bar none, was an Amarone. Granted, it was an expensive bottle, but, dayummm...

 

[NCWC]

I agree Amarone is fantastic, THis is not Amarone but appassimento style of wine we will try to make. My main concern will be how the grapes will hold up drying. After we lay them out to dry I was going to spray them with an SO2 solution

 

[WeimarWine]

Good luck with your Appassimento wine project. I am very interested in how it works out for you. Please keep us updated along the way.

WeimarWine

 

[NCWC]

Well over the last few weeks the weather here has been Fantastic for grapes
90 during the day 60 at night. We may have gone from a pretty good year to a fantastic year
Very little rain so the grapes are stressed.

The idea behind the appassimento was to make wine from low Brix grapes which is what we get around here 20-22 Brix. I'm hearing reports of 24+ so we may S-Can this year

 

[NCWC]

Did you SO2 the grapes in anyway. Like spray them 1st with a SO2 solution or dip the clusters in a bucket of SO2 water?

 

[NCWC]

Got the grapes for appasimento yesterday. They look beautiful no apparent rot or mold

 

[WeimarWine]

Yes, I mixed some metabisulfite in water and used a spray bottle to mist the grape clusters every couple of days.

WeimarWine