Sicily is a vast and beautiful island...where the roads aren't always clearly marked...and the GPS tends to crap out just when you need it most. In other words: I got terribly lost trying to find Azienda Agricola Occhipinti.
Down almost to the southeast coast is an area called Vittoria where Sicily's only top-designated DOCG wine, Cerasuolo di Vittoria, comes from. It is here that winemaker Arianna Occhipinti grew up, surrounded by wine. At 16, her uncle Giusto asked her to help pour his COS wine at his stand at the Vinitaly wine fair. Bitten by the wine bug, she studied winemaking at the University of Milan, and in 2004, at just 21 years old, Arianna made her first vintage of Occhipinti wine with the one hectare of vines that surrounded her house.
 |
| Arianna Occhipinti |
Arianna is a staunch 'natural' winemaker ("SUPER Natural!" she emphasizes when I finally locate her house). She uses only natural agricultural methods "to allow complete expression of the grape and wine without chemical intervention." Her wines are true to this vision. Made with the indigenous Frappato grape, they are bright and fresh yet dense and complex with flavors of red berries, sour cherry, wild herbs and white mushroom. Oh, and did I mention ridiculously delicious? Yes, SUPER delicious.
 |
| Occhipinti vineyards |
"I value the biodiversity of the vineyard. It’s exactly this that excites me and interests me. Each year expresses the traits of that year, each year is unique."
Azienda Agricola Arianna Occhipinti
info@agricolaocchipinti.it
Tel. +39 0932 1865519 / +39.333.6360316
