Description
Located in Sicily ’s south-eastern Val di Noto province, the Occhipinti family is synonymous with the Frappato grape that underpins Siciliy’s only DOCG: Cerasuolo di Vittoria. Arianna kicked off in 2004, making wines in a family farmhouse, before transferring, in 2013, to a purpose-built winery, where her 22 hectares of Frappato and Nero d’Avola, along with one-and-a-half hectares of intense Albanello and Zibibbo white grapes, are vinified using cement and Stockinger barrels (Slavonian, German, Austrian oak).
Tasting Notes
“The 20th harvest of Il Frappato from Arianna Occhipinti, 2023, is a staggeringly beautiful wine. Yes, there is blood orange and cranberry, bitter cherries, the smell of rose petals after rain and some elusive spice, but what is more important is that I suddenly wanted to own cases of this wine. It’s an ambassador for Sicily, as vivid, arresting and confusing as the whole ancient island, and a reminder to resist the cliches. This is vigour, not lassitude; energy, not managed decay. It’s unmissable; a wine that sparks the kind of joy wine lovers crave.” [95/100 points, Jason Millar, March 2026, decanter.com]
