Grape: Frappato (100%)
Region: Sicily, Italy
Ageing Potential: Drink now - 2020
Perfect with: San Danielle Proscuitto with labne and comte
Size: 750mL
You’ll love if you love: Medium-light bodied fragrant pinots
Why you’ll love it:
Winemaker Adriana Occhipinti is one of the latest young talents to be bringing Sicily back on the wine map. Only in her 20s, she's the niece of Giusto Occhipinti (COS). A firm believer of 'natural' winemaking and follows biodynamic principles. Minimal adjustments have been made, no fining, no filtration and only minimal sulphur added at bottling, resulting in an incredibly pure wine that's refined and delicate with full flavours of Sicily.

Il Frappato was made from 50-60 year old vines on red sands and chalk from sub Apennine limestone rocks at 280 meters above sea level. 70% of the wine is macerated for 2 months on its skins, while the other 30% stayed on its skins for 8 months. Aged 14 months in large 25HL Slavonian oak barrels, 1 month in bottle, unfiltered.

Tastes Like?
Intensely perfumed nose with loads of crunchy red fruits - red cherries, strawberries, raspberries, liquorice and a hint of sweet spice that follow on to an equally intense and concentrated palate. Well balanced high acidity with fine yet firm tannins.  Very pure and elegant. 

Critics: 

93 pts.Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate: August, 2016

Arianna Occhipinti has outdone herself with the 2014 Il Frappato. This is a wine of character and personality. It flaunts those slightly rustic edges with charm and confidence. The bouquet opens to ripe blueberry, raspberry and dried cassis. The quality of fruit shows good integrity and balance. You don’t notice any of the raw or unclean smells you sometimes get with wines made in such a natural and non-interventionist approach. The nose is pristine. In the mouth, Il Frappato delivers vibrant acidity and snappy fruit flavors. More than any other wine, this vintage and this producer can claim to have produced something close to a Pinot Nero with an all-Sicilian soul.