SP68 Rosso Arianna Occhipinti 2021

SP68 Rosso Arianna Occhipinti, Biodynamic red wine, blend of Nero d’Avola and Frappato, light, fruity, elegant. This wine is named after the main road that passes near to Arianna’s home town of Vittoria, it lies in the far south of Sicily just to the west of Ragusa. It is here that she has been making wine for the past ten years under the tutelage of her uncle, Giusto Occhipinti who owns and runs the famous COS estate. The red SP68, a blend of Nero and Frappato is full of wild cherries, plum and mulberry with just a touch of raspberry lift. There are hints of flowers, leather, smoke, spice and herbs with wafts of liquorice, quite a lot you can pick out of this wine. But overall, it is the freshness that defines it, you could serve slightly chilled, it would go very well but there is enough darkness and savoury complexity to do a good ‘Arrostito’ as well.

Arianna Occhipinti is the niece of COS winemaker Guisto Occhipinti, so has winemaking in her blood.

Her estate lies near to Vittoria, just off the SP68 road which lends its name to some of her wines. Guided by her uncle, she's been making wine here for well over ten years now. All the vineyards are worked using biodynamic principals and she takes a non-interventionalist approach in the cellar, allowing the wine to find its own space. Only natural yeasts are used, no temperature control, no fining or filtration and minimal SO2 at bottling. Many would say Arianna is now rivalling her Uncle for quality and certainly her wines are excellent. She works with Nero d'Avola, Frappato, Zibbibo, as well as some other local varieties.