Artimino Vin Santo 2016 di Carmignano (375ml)

All dessert wines obtain their sweetness by reducing the liquid inside the grape prior to the pressing and fermentation steps of the winemaking process. Less liquid results in a more concentrated flavor, a thicker viscosity, and a sweeter wine.

But there are several ways to reduce liquid in a grape

• Leave the grape clusters hanging on the vine for weeks past the normal harvest (the most common - just look for all the "Late Harvest Wines" on the shelves)
• Wait for freezing temperatures and harvest the partially-frozen grapes with headlamps in the middle of the night ("ice wines")
• Mimic the above approach by feezing the grapes in tank (this greatly reduces the cost, and the human anguish, but riles the purists)
• And finally, as you can do what the Tuscans do in making Vin Santo - you can dry the clusters indoors, hanging them from individual racks until partially shriveled.

But that's not the only distinctive part of the Vin Santo process. Once vinified, the wine is placed inside a barrel and then sealed for seven years! Why the emphasis? Because most wines aging peacefully in barrel require periodic topping-off to replace the wine that has evaporated. Without this process, up to 40% of the wine in the sealed barrel evaporates - hence the name "Vin Santo", or "Saint's Wine".

The result is this dark, oxidized wine whose nutty flavor adds an enticing lift to the already delicious cantucci, or small sections of biscotti if need be.