Some
time ago I happened to read, I don’t recall where, about some
Tuscan gourmands and some recipes they suggested which struck me for
their heterodoxy: in fact they all used vin santo as an ingredient.
One was for dark bread rounds dampened with vin santo and spread with
a paté of chicken spleen and livers sautéed in butter.
Another one dealt with sliced veal cooked in a saucepan with butter
and a sprinkling of sour vin santo.
I won’t go into my opinion of these "delicacies" until
I have actually tasted them. However, until then, I will continue
to think of vin santo only as an extraordinary dessert wine or as
a wine to accompany cheeses like gorgonzola.
There are a number of legends about how it got its bizarre name. The
best one gives the merit to the Archbishop of Nicea who, on his arrival
in Florence in 1439, tasted a glass and exclaimed: "It tastes
like the wine of Xantos". It was never known whether the Archbishop
was referring to the sweet wine made on the island of the same name
or to the word in Greek meaning yellow amber color. But the people
present associated the word xantos with the word santo (holy). And
this is how the term vin santo came about.
The technique of producing Tuscan vin santo has remained unchanged
for centuries but one can find it in sweet, medium or dry varieties
according to the white grapes that have been used: trebbiano, malvasia,
chardonnay or vermentino. The fruit is left to dry on woven-cane mats
until December when it is pressed and the wine poured into small casks.
The casks are put away in airy storage rooms under the barn roof where
they are exposed to the seasonal range of temperature; the wine is
left to age for at least three years and in these conditions it reaches
perfect maturation.
The vin santo produced by Fattoria di Montemorli in Poggibonsi is
particularly worthy of note: made from trebbiano and malvasia grapes
to which are added 10% of red sangiovese grapes, this wine is characterized
by its amber yellow color and a full, rich taste that makes it a complete
complement to the excellent cantuccini (almond cookies) from Prato.
Be sure to try it, too, as an accompaniment to herb or well-ripened
cheeses.
| Montalcino
| Colle di Val d'Elsa | Volterra
| Casole d'Elsa | San
Gimignano | Poggibonsi |
