"Cuvee 20" Vino di Contrada IGT Sicilia 2023

A single-varietal Frappato that combines lightness with pull: medium-bodied, transparent at its core, ethereal by nature, carried by pronounced minerality and vibrant tension. Dry, 13.0% vol.

The wine comes from three historic contrade near Vittoria: Fossa di Lupo, with brown sand over limestone, Bombolieri, with white sand over pure limestone, and Pettineo, with orange sand over tuff. Some of the vines have stood in these soils for over 60 years. Arianna Occhipinti has farmed her 42 hectares across nine contrade around Vittoria since 2004, without a single drop of irrigation.

100 percent Frappato, an indigenous variety documented in Vittoria since 1812. The vineyards are farmed organically and biodynamically, densely planted and harvested exclusively by hand. Spontaneous fermentation in concrete with around 25 days on the skins, followed by roughly six further months of ageing in concrete and about a year in large Austrian oak casks. Bottled unfiltered, with minimal use of sulfur.

Dark ruby red with garnet reflections and a pale-fading core. The nose opens generously with strawberry in full breadth, underscored by small, highly aromatic wild strawberries, blood orange zest and juice, dark cherries, mulberries and mirabelle plums, alongside leather and damp forest floor. On the palate, strawberry runs through as a leitmotif, coolly countered by a powdery fine phenolic structure that settles over the fruit like fine dust. The texture stays silky, the finish persistent.

A cuvée from three contrade with three different soils, whose interplay gives the wine precision and fine tannins. Occhipinti has elevated Frappato to new heights since buying her first hectare of abandoned vines at age 21; she has worked biodynamically since 2009.