This bottle tells a story through taste.
I can’t tell whether it’s that Frappato is a new and unfamiliar varietal for me or whether it’s that sense of the unaccustomed that 100% organic wine sometimes challenges your palate with.
What I know for certain is that after sipping and focusing on two bottles of this wine, it is both light and lush, both mineral and bright and with a pleasant balanced acidity. I’ve drunk the Nero D’Avola from this vineyard and the winemaker Arianna Occhipinti, has managed to harness the odd cool sea breezes of Southeastern Sicily, 100% biodynamic vineyards, volcanic soils into something special that carries across the wines under her label. The Nero D’Avola, also organic from the same vineyards undid your perceptions of this varietal as a heavy, brooding, nap-inducing red wine.
If you haven’t heard of Arianna’s wine, you probably have drunk wines from her Uncle, Guisto Occhipiniti, the proprietor at the Cos vineyard, who taught her the trade and makes an incredible Nero D’Avola/Frapato blend, Cerasuola Di Vittoria. A classic Sicilian blend that is reinvented by the organic roots and interesting taste that comes from this volcanic region.
Check these bottles out. They’ll challenge your preconceptions of Sicilian wine and will reward you for the effort.
Thought provoking good taste is a great thing.
