Favinia Passulè Firriato

THE PASSITO CARESSED BY THE SEA

Classification: IGT Terre Siciliane

Varietal: Zibibbo

Production area: Island of Favignana Tenuta Calamoni

Soil type: quaternary bio calcarenite

The Aegadian butterfly spreads its wings after a century of torpor to settle on the attentive and sensitive souls of lovers of challenges and heroic gestures, through the inimitable footprint of its Favinia Passulè. Grapes from the esteemed Zibibbo meet the benevolence of a terroir that has come alive and returned gratitude with a honeyed nectar. Its wine, fresh and lively, is the vigorous sign of a vine that does not allow itself to be broken by natural controversies, but forges a vehement partnership with them in the name of an elixir of youth that induces a longed-for inebriation. The Firriato family’s newborn needs a palate yearning for innovation.

Tasting Notes

Color: deep golden yellow with honey highlights;

Nose: splendid protagonists are the fragrances of candied orange, dates and dried figs. The bouquet is fine and elaborate, with heady overtones of sage and lemongrass;

Palate: aristocratic freshness looming on a soft, ambitious palate. Intense and pleasant fruit with an incisive and delicate taste, as sweet as the sun that caresses its native island. Savory notes in the finish remind us that it is a child of the Mediterranean Sea.

Curiosities

As with lEcrù, the production of Passulè also requires two different vintages of Zibibibbo. In the first, which occurs when the clusters are just ripe, a portion of the clusters is harvested by hand and brought by traditional fishing boats to the Appassimento Garden, where it is placed on trellises for drying in the Sicilian sun; while the remainder is left on the plant to proceed with ripening. Finally, when overripe is complete, late harvesting, that of the overripe grape left on the vine to obtain a higher concentration of sugars in the berries, is carried out. Luva from this vintage is vinified.
Subsequently, when the drying process of the berries from the first harvest is complete, the raisin grapes are degreased by hand and steeped in the wine obtained from the late harvest.
Here, too, the infusion method gives this wine hints that make it unique on the sweet wine scene.

The Firriato family continues to amaze and remain true to their oath of progress by welcoming the esteemed Passulè, a wine with a distinctive value, forged by the heroic action of Favonio, the west wind that gives its name to the largest island of the Egadi archipelago. Its warm and fervent breath offers protection to the vine and restores its vitality and charm in an enveloping and fruitful warmth. The unselfish action of the florid breath makes the Roman Aegusa a marine pearl with a vocation to shine by authenticity. Favignana is all this: it is the sublime lushness of buds, it is the enthusiasm of expectation, it is the taste of sea and earth scorched by an overly hot sun, revitalizing the limestone soil and the kind hearts of tasters.