Zibibbo Passito and Pumpkin Pie
It was more or less an accident that Kevin discovered how good Fattoria la Vialla’s “Passito”, made from biodynamically-farmed Sicilian Zibibbo grapes, goes with traditional pumpkin pie. The dessert has plenty of eggs and milk, in an unsweetened pastry crust. The pumpkin is baked before being combined with the eggs, milk, sugar and spices – usually cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg are used – blended and poured into the forms and baked. The consistency is very much like a quiche. The Zibibbo, with its fresh and dried apricot fruit, augments the understated fruitiness of the pumpkin, with the ginger aromas from the Passito process working wonderfully together with the spices in the pie. The colour is also perfect. The result is a wine that is sweeter than the pie, as it should be, but which helps the pie to show off its best side, while working aesthetically as well.