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Vincotto (lit. 'cooked wine') is a dark,sweet, thick paste produced in rural areas of Italy. It is made by the slow cooking and reduction over many hours of non-fermented grapemust until it has been reduced to about one-fifth of its original volume and the sugars present have caramelized. It can be made from a number of varieties of local red wine grapes, includingPrimitivo,Negroamaro, andMalvasia Nera, and before the grapes are picked they are allowed to wither naturally on the vine for about thirty days. In Roman times it was known assapa in Latin andepsima in Greek, the same names that are often used for it in Italy and Cyprus, respectively, today.[1]
Although it may be used as a basis to make sweet vinegar,vincotto has a pleasant flavor and is not a type of vinegar. This additional product is called "vinegar ofvincotto", "vincotto vinegar" or "vincotto balsamic" and can be used in the same way as a good mellow balsamic vinegar.
Vincotto appears to be related todefrutum and other forms of grape juice boiled down to varying strengths (carenum,sapa) that were produced inancient Rome.Defrutum was used to preserve, sweeten, and/or flavor many foods (including wine), by itself or withhoney orgarum.Defrutum was also consumed as a drink when diluted with water, or fermented into a heady Roman "wine". (Note:defrutum should not be confused withpassum, a wine made from fermentedraisins that originated in ancientCarthage and was popular in ancient Rome.Passum was therefore more similar to modernVin Santo than tovincotto.)
Over many centuries, thevincotto produced inBasilicata and theSalento area ofApulia was further developed into several different varieties of higher quality and culinary sophistication and is produced from the slow reduction together of a blend of cooked grape must and of a wine that has started to spoil and sour, attaining the consistency of dense non-alcoholic syrup. This tradition goes back to the times of the ancient Romans, when grape musts were reduced over heat to facilitate conservation and transportation.
In Basilicata,vincotto is a key ingredient of several traditional dishes such aslagana chiapputa, pasta with walnuts, almonds, pine nuts, and raisin,[2] andpan minisc', a dessert enriched with flour, sugar, and spices.[3]
