Vincotto

A dark grape syrup from unfermented must

Vincotto is a dark, sweet, thick paste made in rural Italy by cooking grape must for a long time. Its name means cooked wine. It is not fermented: the must is kept from becoming wine and is reduced over hours until its sugars caramelise and it darkens.

The result is closer to a syrup or paste than to a vinegar. The product is a reduction, not a balsamic vinegar; a sweet vinegar can be made from it as a separate step.

Roman roots

The name and the method are linked to the Roman practice of reducing grape must to preserve and move it. The Romans called the boiled grape syrup sapa, and the Greek word was epsima. Related boiled-down grape products were defrutum and carenum. The article reports this tradition, but gives no dated attestation for vincotto itself, so the link is recorded here as a tradition.

Making it

Local red grape varieties are used. The article records that the grapes may be left to wither on the vine for about thirty days before harvest, which concentrates their sugars. The must is then cooked slowly, over many hours, until it is reduced to about a fifth of its original volume. The article names Basilicata and the Salento region of Apulia as its places.

In Basilicata and Salento, a second method blends cooked must with wine that has begun to sour, then reduces the blend to a dense, non-alcoholic syrup. This is a different product from a must reduction alone and should be recorded as its own variant.

Uses

Vincotto is used as a seasoning or sweetener. In Basilicata it is a key ingredient in lagana chiapputa, a pasta dish with walnuts, almonds, pine nuts and raisins, and it appears in pan minisc', a dessert made with flour, sugar and spices. The article also shows it served with ricotta. The article gives no shelf life or storage advice, and none is given here.