Vino cotto

[Relaxed]

This is an ingredient, rather than a dish, and it is apparently unique to Le Marche.

"Vino cotto is made as follows. Press the juice from several bunches of either red or white grapes, strain into a flameproof earthenware or glass pan, and simmer very gently until thick, about four hours."

It is used (according to my book) in a casserole where it takes the place of both the 1/2 cup of white wine and the tomatoes.

Sounds worth an experiment - anyone tried it?

[stefanaccio]

From my experience, the term commonly refers to wine made by cooking the must (crushed grapes and juice) to about 25% volume, filltering, diluting with grape juice, fermenting, then placing in keg for year or so. This produces a sweet desert wine not unlike Marsala and Vino Santo (which are produced in entirely different manners).
Casale in Valle San Giovanni www.angelfire.com/film/casale

[Charles Joseph]

Originally Posted by Relaxed

This is an ingredient, rather than a dish, and it is apparently unique to Le Marche.

"Vino cotto is made as follows. Press the juice from several bunches of either red or white grapes, strain into a flameproof earthenware or glass pan, and simmer very gently until thick, about four hours."

It is used (according to my book) in a casserole where it takes the place of both the 1/2 cup of white wine and the tomatoes.

Sounds worth an experiment - anyone tried it?

It is a fortified wine and it tastes a little bit like Vin Santo. The Capitale of Vino Cotto is Loro Piceno in the Provincia of Macerata.

Pic of Farmers making Vino Cotto near Offida.

[Bruno]

Vino cotto started showing up around here at the start of the winter, our landlord shared some he had made and it had a stronger grape taste than vin santo or vino passito. There was some locally produced on store shelves for a couple months but has since disappeared. We really enjoyed vino cotto.

[Angie and Robert]

I use it when baking figs, 50/50 with white wine, makes a delicious syrupy sauce, then just add mascapone, very good, and strangely, this freezes very well, we had it for pudding Christmas Day, we have a 10yr old bottle made by our neighbour, but you can buy it close by in Loro Piceno.
Angie

[elizabeth]

More tidbits on vino cotto:
It was made by the ancient Greeks and Romans as both as a way to preserve grapes for a long time, and to make a sweetener.
Today vino cotto is made in the traditional fashion (ie; grape must boiled in copper pots then aged in wood barrels for a year) not only in Le Marche, but in Puglia, Campania, and Sicilia. I’m not sure about other regions.
Vino cotto can be boiled down to make a sweet syrup, aged for about a year, which is what the ancients did. Many recipes from 2000 years ago were sweet, meats and cheeses sweetened, therefore a sweetener was a prized commodity. Ah, I guess a sweet tooth has a long history!

Elizabetta
Inspired Interior Design www.intdesignco.com
Exquisite Italian Scarves and Shawls www.elizabetta.net
marchehomecare@libero.it

[AllanMason]

Originally Posted by elizabeth

Today vino cotto is made in the traditional fashion (ie; grape must boiled in copper pots then aged in wood barrels for a year) not only in Le Marche, but in Puglia, Campania, and Sicilia. I’m not sure about other regions.

You can include Abruzzo on that list since I've seen a house here with a huge copper vat with fireplace below which was used to produce vino cotto; apparently on an almost industrial scale.

Along the lines of stefanaccio's comments, I recall reading in a book on Italian wine production that it was once common in areas where the local grapes didn't have a very high sugar content to boil a portion of the must in order to increase the sugar concentration and then return the syrupy result to the bulk of the must before fermentation. The increased percentage of sugar resulted in wine with a higher alcohol content. The writer also said it produced wine with what sophisticated modern palates would consider an unusual "cooked" flavour.

Al

[Relaxed]

I'm getting really a bit embarrassed about this, as the originator of this thread! I cannot retrieve my source on vino cotto, and quite probably I did not catch on to the fact that my "recipe" needed to be bottled (or put in a cask) and seasoned for a year or more etc. etc.
Nevertheless, the straightforward reduction of a robust red wine (irrespective of whether it has already made contact with whatever it was intended to marinate, or whether it has biblically known an oak barrel) is - according to my stove - a good idea. Call it what you like, attribute it to your favourite region - I think we all agree, it works!

[elizabeth]

Angie,
What a wonderful idea….
Are you baking dried or fresh figs? I'd love to try it, will you share the recipe please?

Inspired Interior Design www.intdesignco.com
Exquisite Italian Scarves and Shawls www.elizabetta.net
marchehomecare@libero.it

[Angie and Robert]

I will try and remember!

As many fresh green or black figs that will fit snugly into a shallow oven proof dish, score a cross in the tops of these, pour over enough white wine to a third of the hight in the dish, sprinkle over a small amount of sugar.Then pour about a teaspoon of vino cotto into each fig.

Cover with foil and bake in an oven about 170c for about 20mins, then remove foil for last 10mins, my oven is a bit fierce so you will need to check to make sure it is not undercooked or burnt!, it is ready when the figs are really tender but retain their shape and the sauce is reduced to a lovely syrupy consistency, lovely with mascapone, and as I previously said freezes really well,
We have 4 fig trees so if anyone is close enough to me they are welcome to come and collect some and give this really easy recipe a try.

Angie