Il Frappato IGT Sicilia 2023 1500ml Magnum

Wine description for Il Frappato IGT Sicilia 2023 1500ml Magnum by Occhipinti

Character

Frappato from the hands of Arianna Occhipinti is Sicily’s quiet rejoinder to anyone who assumes southern Italian reds are all about power. With just 12.5 per cent alcohol, this wine reveals what the variety can achieve in Vittoria: bright cherry red, fragrant notes of red berries, violets and Mediterranean herbs, complemented by vibrant acidity and silky-fine tannins. Dry, precise and disarmingly honest – a wine that captivates through finesse rather than force. In magnum format, it also matures particularly evenly and retains its freshness for longer.

Terroir & Origin

Since 2004, Arianna Occhipinti has farmed 42 hectares across nine different contrade around Vittoria in south-eastern Sicily. The vines for Il Frappato are rooted in Contrada Bombolieri, whose soils have the highest limestone content on the estate – alongside sand and clay, the key element behind the finesse of these wines. Radically consistent: not a single drop of irrigation water has ever reached these vineyards, despite the Sicilian heat. The vines are trained in the traditional bush-vine system (alberello), a cultivation method that has adapted over centuries to Mediterranean aridity.

Grape Variety & Vinification

Frappato has been documented as rooted in Vittoria since 1812 – an indigenous variety long underestimated, which in Occhipinti’s hands attains an elegance that has garnered international acclaim. Since 2009, the estate has been farmed biodynamically; fermentation is spontaneous with indigenous yeasts, ageing takes place in cement tanks, and the wine is bottled unfiltered and unfined. The result is a red wine of pure, unadorned fruit and cool precision.

Food Pairings

The light, juicy character of this wine makes it a versatile everyday wine: with pasta with Sicilian swordfish, grilled tuna or sardines, but also with pizza, caponata and young Pecorino. Served lightly chilled – at around 14 to 16 degrees – it shows at its most expressive. The magnum bottle makes it ideal for long tables where Sicily arrives on the table in a glass.