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Advertorial produced by Trans Nordic Selection
“It is during the appassimento process
magic happens. Water evaporates and
natural enzymes add flavours that
wasn’t there in the first place.”
Scipione Giuliani
Scipione knew that Apulia, the region
in the heel of Italy’s boot, was ideal
because of its warm and dry climate,
and he knew about the extraordinary
potential of the Primitivo, one of the
signature grapes of this region. So this is
where he started his search for the right
vineyard plots.
“Appassimento is a difficult process
with risk of rot in the grapes, so I
followed several quality criteria, like the
age of the vines, position of the vineyards
and the soil,” he says. Hence, many of
the vineyards he selected were planted
with old bushvines with low yields and
healthy grapes with thick skin.
Deliberately pushing the limits, Scipione
demanded the growers to wait to
harvest until the grapes were almost
overripe, because this would help him
to create the bold and sundried flavor
he was looking for. The best grapes
were hand-picked and laid in small cases.
Grapes were then dried for 4 weeks.
As Scipione puts it: “It is during the
appassimento process magic happens.
Water evaporates and natural enzymes
add flavours that wasn’t there in the
first place. The result is a very ripe,
rasiny, full bodied wine. Scipione was
so pleased with the result he named the
wine “Amore Passo”. Amore because
it’s made out of passion for Italian
wines. Passo because of the Appassimento
method.
Primitivo grapes laid down for drying
Just like their predecessors, the
inventors of Cappucino, Parma ham and
Lasagna, Scipione Giuliani and fellow
winemakers continue to apply their
creativity into their work and are now
re-inventing Italian winemaking. Thanks
to an absent-minded cellar master 78
years ago.