Appassire (v.):

The verb form of Appassimento, meaning "the plants, flowers, leaves etc. lose freshness and become dry". Here means the partial dehydration of grapes.

Appassimento (n.):

Literally means "the process of drying the grapes". An Italian winemaking technique where winemakers partially dry the grapes by 20-30% before pressing, to enhance the complexity and richness of the wine. Commonly used for producing high-quality, long-aged red wines, such as Amarone.

Appassito (adj.):

Appassito Wine refers to a wine made from a type of partially dried grapes.

Appassite (adj.):

Appassite Wine refers to a wine made from multiple types of partially dried grapes.

Passito(n.):

Literally means "sweet", referring to Italian sweet wines. Winemakers use the Appassimento technique but fully dry the grapes to raisin-like levels, often losing over 80% of their moisture content, before vinification.