Getting packing cases delivered makes you realise a lot more that you’re about to move out. We’ll get most of our stuff shipped to Germany in three weeks and do apartment hopping for the rest of our time in London. So not too many evenings left in my little Archway flat. Checking the calendar this IS actually the last weekend as we’ll be in New York for a while from next Saturday on. So definitively a reason for opening a bottle of deliciousness isn’t it?
Arianna Occhipinti is a winemaker in the south of Italy – Sicily to be more precise – cultivating about 10 hectares of wine (and 15 hectares of olives). It won’t surprise you to read that it is all organic, no chemicals in the vineyards & cellar. I absolutely love her white SP68 which I’ve bought many times. Today I’m going red and one price tier higher to her “Il Frappato” named after the variety, Frappato di Vittoria (minimalistic names ftw!).
Not surprisingly the wine has fermented on indigenous yeasts and macerated 50 days on its skins. And both is very present when it comes to tasting it. The smell already identifies it as an unconventional wine. Wine descriptions in the internet are speaking about a floral nose – I smell the oxidative side-effects: smoke, bacon, nuts, salami. Aromas which become more intense the second day (that’s why I won’t fully empty this bottle today). The long maceration time leads to nice tannins framing a lot more fruit, cherries it is for me. Although it gives you a full mouth with 12.5% alcohol it’s not too heavy. This wine lets your taste buds dance for over a minute after swallowing. Really like it.