Vinsanto (or vin santo) is a wine produced from Trebbiano and Malvasia grapes left to dry after harvesting.Typical of Tuscany and Umbria, it is usually paired with desserts, especially cantucci biscuits, as it is a sweet wine. When it is produced with Sangiovese it takes the name of partridge eye vinsanto.
The legends behind its name
There are various theories on the origin of the name “vinsanto”: a version from Siena narrates that, in the year 1348 during the Black Death in Europe, a Franciscan friar used the wine usually used during the homily, to treat the plague victims; therefore the belief that this wine had miraculous properties spread, bringing it the epithet saint.
According to a version from Florence, however, it is said that during the Council of Florence in 1439, while drinking, Giovanni Bessarione seems to have exclaimed: “This is the wine of Xantos”, perhaps referring to a passito wine from Santorini. His guests confused the term Xantos with “santos”, thinking that Bessarione had discovered the saving characteristics of the product.
The less romantic origin, but probably more likely, is the association of this wine with its common use during mass.
According to another version, the wine is called Vinsanto because in ancient times the grapes were left to dry until Holy Week, then pressed and pressed.
The traditional production
Traditionally, vinsanto was produced by picking the best bunches (harvest “for chosen”) and then drying them decisively by laying them down on mats or hanging them from hooks (traditionally the grapes were mats or hung in periods of waning moon, with the conviction of thus avoiding they rot). After drying, the grapes were pressed and the must was transferred to barrels of various woods of variable size from which the vinsanto of the previous production had just been removed. During this operation, care was taken that the deposited residue of past production did not come out of the cask as it was believed to be responsible for the success of the vinsanto itself, so much so that it was called the mother of vinsanto. The caratelli were sealed and generally located in the attic of the manor houses or in any case in an attic as it was believed that the strong summer-winter temperature variations helped the fermentation. It was generally believed that three years of fermentation/aging were sufficient for the production of a good vinsanto even if some producers aged it (and still do) for more than ten years.