Occhipinti il Frappato

The Wine... Arianna Occhipinti bottles Frappato and Nero d’Avola. The two grapes are traditionally blended to make Cerasuolo di Vittoria, which in 2005 became the first style of red wine in Sicily to achieve DOCG status. Only 2 percent of Sicilian wine even merits DOC status (a tier down from DOCG) and only 15 percent is even bottled on the island. Native grape Nero d’Avola gives darkness, and Frappato provides uncommon fragrance. By utilizing native yeasts to begin fermentation, ageing in older and larger oak barrels and farming in adherence to the tenets of biodynamics, Occhipinti finds grace in the fields surrounding Ragusa and Vittoria.

The Land... A promising new Sicily is emerging. It may seem that the sun-baked region is well-suited to Cali-style bigness, but during my week in Sicily I was surprised by the variety of terrain and climate. Just drive around Etna and you’ll see high-elevation arable land and vines that are as verdant as northern France. Pistachios growing instead of olives. The Baroque hilltop towns of Sicily’s southeastern corner provide elevation and proximity to cooling sea breezes necessary to grow wines with ripeness and acid structure. In short, the Sicily=Hot equation is too simplified to be useful.

The Woman... Arianna Ochipinti’s estate is in the southeastern corner of Sicily near Monti Iblei. She cultivates 5 hectares of vineyard according to biodynamic methods, and leaves 16 hectares of her estate uncultivated to promote a local ecosystem in greater balance. She’s young, but has been making wine for a decade and bottling her current group of wines for four years.