Vino Cotto

Vino cotto is the old cooked-must specialty of the Piceno hills, and I Sassi di San Giuseppe make theirs at their organic farm above Montegiorgio in the province of Fermo. Freshly pressed red must is boiled for hours in copper cauldrons over a wood fire until it reduces by roughly half, the sugars caramelising and the must darkening to amber-garnet before fermentation; the wine then ages for years in oak barriques, traditionally solera-style with older casks topped up from each new batch. No spirit is added - the sweetness and concentration come entirely from the fire. The result is a sweet, unfortified dessert wine, deep and mahogany-edged, with caramel, dried fig and honey. Non-vintage by nature and a meditation pour, made from the estate's Piceno red grapes, typically Sangiovese and Montepulciano.