Passito on the Island of Pantelleria

Today is Italian sweet wine day with our Italian Food, Wine & Travel group. I've written about a number of different sweeter style wines on Vino Travels. I am one that has a sweet tooth and enjoys a nice dessert wine. I'm veering off from the typical moscato d'asti and brachetto d'acqui in the north and taking you an island off the coast of Sicily for some passito di Pantelleria.

I believe I've only ever had 1 passito di pantelleria and it was the delicious Ben Rye from Donnafugata. I've written about passito di pantelleria in the past so you can reference all about it from my previous blog post. To summarize, these wines are produced from the moscato grapes, here it's known as zibibbo. Elsewhere this grape is known as Moscato di Alexandria. The weather is intense here so the grapes ripen rather well. To produce passito the grapes are harvested at night in cooler temperatures, but then left to dry to concencrate the sugars more. 

For all you Trader Joe's wine lovers I have to admit this was the first time I actually tried a wine from Trader Joe's. The store I frequent doesn't sell wine and the other closest store is about 40 minutes away, but one day I was in the area and stopped in to check out their wine selection I've heard a lot about. I was excited to find a passito di Pantelleria from Ipsus and immediately made the purchase. I'm always one for wines that I can't find as easily. This 2014 Ipsus Passito di Pantelleria wine was amber in color. With an aromatic nose this wine is rich in flavors of orange zest, apricots and honey. I would suggest to try pairing it with a fresh fruit tart or even some crème brulee. SRP $10.99 (Trader Joe's). 

A delightful and delicious wine at a great price. So when you find yourself craving a little dessert after your meal it's an affordable option to check out.

Here are more Italian sweet wines for you to enjoy. If you catch us in time join us live on Twitter Saturday June 3^rd at 11am EST @ #ItalianFWT.

• Camilla from Culinary Adventures with Camilla features "From Start to Finish with Brachetto d'Acqui"
• Susannah of Avvinare features "Sweet Wines from Italy Made with Red Grapes"
• Gwendolyn of Art Predator features "Passito Dessert Wine by Anselmi: No Other Dessert Needed"
• Jeff of Foodwineclick features "The Sordid Tale of Marsala Wine"

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