Grotte Alte Cerasuoli di Vittoria DOCG 2019

The Grotte Alte is a Cerasuolo di Vittoria, the only DOCG wine in Sicily. The cuvée of 50% Nero d'Avola and Frappato is somewhat out of the zeitgeist focus due to the great success of Occhipinti's Contrade wines. Wrongly so, as this is one of the truly great red wines of Sicily, which Arianna herself describes as perhaps her most ambitious project.

The grapes for this Mediterranean-influenced wine grow on the limestone ridges of Vittoria on 40-year-old vines at around 280 metres above sea level. Fermentation takes place exclusively spontaneously with the vineyard's own yeasts for a good 30 days in neutral concrete on the skins. The wine is then aged for four years in 50 hectolitre Burgundian barrels from Marc Grenier, before maturing for a further four months in the bottle before being marketed. That's a hell of a lot of time, but the flavour condenses from the very first sip, even without the knowledge of the elaborate production process. As a reflection of its origins, it combines the flavours of the spicy sea air with the aromas of the downwinds of the Iblei mountains. A great spectacle.

Dark garnet red with a black core.

The nose of the 2019 Grotte Alte Cerasuolo di Vittoria by Arianna Occhipinti opens the heavy doors of an old cathedral. The red berry fruit oscillates between cherries, raspberries and mulberries as well as between concentration and a fresh nature with acidity and youthful liveliness. Ethereal notes of orange blossom, some cedar, vetiver and more stone fruit hover over it like a hoovercraft. The whole has incredible depth and brilliance and makes the lips purse greedily in the direction of the chalice.

The depth of the nose is reflected in the attack, complemented by subtle Mediterranean scrub and distinctive fruity notes of red vineyard peach, orange zest and transparent ruby-red fruit, which also reaches cathedral proportions on the palate. Silky and elegant, it has immense depth, flanked by almost dusty tannins, fine and tightly meshed on the tongue. Aromatically profound, complex and multi-layered with an orchestral finish and a length that is difficult to quantify. A red wine that, despite its warm, southern origins, proves that it is not the darkest, strongest and therefore loudest wine that marks the top, but the fine, quiet wine with its subtle, but all the more emphatic style.