“SM” Santa Margherita Vino di Contrada DOC Sicilia Bianco 2020

The white Vino di Contrada Santa Margherita is the latest addition to the winery's portfolio. It is the fulfilment of a long-cherished dream of Occhipinti, who found this vineyard after a long search in 2016 at the foot of the Iblei mountains in the ancient village of Chiaramonte Gulfi. The vineyard is situated at an altitude of 490 metres amidst pine forests, oaks and centuries-old olive trees and is divided into four plots on sandy white calcareous marl and sandy soils with yellowish-white calcarenite - marine sediments that date back to the Pleistocene. The Costa Sud and Costa Nord parcels are planted in the Sicilian single-vine upbringing and are responsible for the salty twist thanks to their gypsiferous soils, while the Terrazza and Trefile parcels are trellised on limestone in the Albarello and provide the fresh acidity.

The wine is 100% Grillo, the white grape variety of the west, which in recent decades has also spread to the east of the island under the name Riddu.

Occhipinti sees the grape variety as a means to an end and a tool to reflect its origin. After a short maceration of 48 hours, the must ferments spontaneously in concrete and oval Austrian oak barrels, where it then matures for 12 months. After two years of experimentation, the wine appears on the market for the first time with an edition of 8436 bottles.

Bright orange, radiant and clear.

The 2020 Grillo Vino di Contrada Santa Margherita by Arianna Occhipinti shows itself on the nose as a low-sulphur wine with the distinctive aroma markers of this type in the total absence of any primary fruit, it shows itself in the extract and plays the keyboard of citrus fruits from cedro lemons to grapefruit to orange oil. Underpinned by linseed oil and tart herbal notes, it recalls sage, laurel and wild oregano and shines in the glass more as a structural terroir experience than as a representative of the grape variety.

On the nose, the wine is tidy and clear and spreads an enormous calmness on the palate. Like an infusion or a tea, the majority of its structure is defined by the infusion time, in this case a whole year. The fine tannins extracted in this way are stimulating with a tart tendency towards sweetness and congenially tie in with the extract of the wine. Carried by citrus-fresh acidity and fuelled by salty minerality, this bone-dry wine makes you so thirsty when you drink it that you actually feel inclined to refill it with both hands.