{"title":"Frappato","description":"\u003cp\u003eFrappato is a light-bodied, aromatic red grape variety native to Sicily, known for producing wines with vibrant red fruit flavors, particularly cherry and strawberry, often accompanied by floral notes. It thrives in the warm Mediterranean climate and sandy soils of the region, creating fresh, lively wines with soft tannins and a hint of spice. Frappato is often blended with Nero d'Avola to create the famous Cerasuolo di Vittoria, but it also shines as a standalone varietal wine, offering a unique expression of Sicilian terroir.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"arianna-occhipinti-il-frappato-2024","title":"Arianna Occhipinti il Frappato 2024","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Land\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrappato has been documented in Vittoria since at least 1812, and for most of that time it was treated as a blending grape or a thin local red not worth exporting. The ground it grows on is the reason to reconsider. Vittoria sits in Sicily's southeastern corner between the Iblei Mountains and the Mediterranean, and its soils are deep red sand over sub-Apennine calcareous limestone, at roughly 250 to 280 meters. Sand produces pale color, fine tannin, and lift; the limestone underneath supplies acidity and holds moisture through a punishing summer. The sea keeps nights cool. Occhipinti farms about 25 certified organic hectares across nine contrade here, biodynamically since 2009, with the oldest Frappato trained in traditional alberello bush vines.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Wine\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e100% Frappato from vines of roughly forty to forty-five years, hand-harvested, fermented spontaneously in concrete with no temperature control and about thirty days on the skins, then aged fourteen months in 25-hectoliter Slavonian oak botti and bottled unfiltered with minimal sulfur. A month of maceration on a pale-skinned grape sounds excessive and is not: on sand, Frappato gives up structure slowly and never gives up much color. 2024 was a drought year across Sicily, hot and dry with sharply reduced yields, which concentrated what came in. The wine is rose petal, morello cherry, blood orange, white pepper, and dried hay, light to medium in body, with silky tannin, bright acidity, and a long saline finish. Pale in the glass and nothing like the weight the color would suggest.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe People\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eArianna Occhipinti was sixteen when her uncle Giusto, a founder of COS, brought her along to Vinitaly for four days. She went off to study viticulture, found the coursework interventionist, and came home. In 2004, at twenty-two, she took over one hectare of abandoned vines in Contrada Fossa di Lupo and released her first commercial vintage in 2006. Everything since has followed the same rules: hand harvest, native yeast, no temperature control, no fining, no filtration, sulfur only at bottling, and concrete rather than steel since the gravity-fed cellar was finished in 2014. She is the reason the outside world takes Frappato seriously.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFood Pairing\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA red that behaves like a white at the table and should be served cool. Grilled swordfish with capers and lemon, pasta alla Norma, roast chicken with olives and herbs, or a plate of tuna crudo. The pale tannin and high acidity mean it can go with fish without either side losing, and the floral aromatics work with tomato and basil rather than fighting them. Put it in the fridge for twenty minutes before you open it.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Natural","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50613398044895,"sku":null,"price":53.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0439\/7436\/1248\/files\/P8040024.jpg?v=1785944957"},{"product_id":"arianna-occhipinti-frappato-di-contrada-2023","title":"Arianna Occhipinti Frappato di Contrade Cuvée 20 2023","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Land\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA contrada is a named district, the Sicilian equivalent of a lieu-dit, and Occhipinti farms across nine of them around Vittoria. In 2016 she began bottling Frappato from three of them separately, Pettineo, Bombolieri, and Fossa di Lupo, on the argument that the differences between these parcels are as legible as anything in Burgundy once you stop covering them up. The common ground is red sand over sub-Apennine calcareous limestone at roughly 250 to 280 meters, between the Iblei Mountains and the sea. The variations are the point: Pettineo runs sandier and gives the silkiest wine; Bombolieri carries the highest chalk content and the finest tannins; Fossa di Lupo has more limestone and delivers sharper acidity and more structure.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Wine\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e100% Frappato from old alberello-trained vines, and a departure from how this series normally works. 2023 marks Occhipinti's twentieth harvest, and to mark it she brought all three contrade together into one bottling rather than releasing them separately: Cuvée 20 is Pettineo, Bombolieri, and Fossa di Lupo assembled in a single wine. Fermentation is spontaneous in concrete with no temperature control and an extended maceration on the skins, followed by aging in large Slavonian oak botti and bottling unfiltered with minimal sulfur. 2023 in Sicily was a hot growing season with real heat spikes, though less severe than the drought that followed in 2024. The wine shows rose petal, sour cherry, blood orange peel, dried oregano, and white pepper, pale in the glass, with the chalk of Bombolieri, the silk of Pettineo, and the acid spine of Fossa di Lupo all doing their part. Longer and more complete than any of the three alone.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe People\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eArianna Occhipinti founded her estate in 2004 at twenty-two with a single hectare of abandoned vines in Contrada Fossa di Lupo and released her first commercial vintage in 2006. She now farms roughly 25 certified organic hectares, biodynamic since 2009, across those nine contrade. Her cellar rules have not changed in two decades: hand harvest, spontaneous fermentation with airborne yeast, no temperature control, no fining, no filtration, sulfur only at bottling, and concrete throughout since the gravity-fed winery was completed in 2014. Twenty vintages in, blending the crus back together is the kind of thing you do once you have already proven they are different.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFood Pairing\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLight in body and high in acid, so it belongs with food rather than before it. Grilled tuna or swordfish with lemon and capers, pasta with tomato and salted ricotta, roast rabbit with olives, or a plate of prosciutto and young pecorino. Serve it cool, around 60 degrees, and the aromatics come forward rather than the alcohol. It rewards a decant and a slow evening.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Natural","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50613415117023,"sku":null,"price":94.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0439\/7436\/1248\/files\/P8040011.jpg?v=1785944678"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0439\/7436\/1248\/collections\/drcmontrachet_macro_photography_a_dark_red_Frappato_grape_clu_548f2875-b103-40ff-b67b-e46e505675ff_0.png?v=1793249797","url":"https:\/\/denverwinemerchant.com\/collections\/frappato.oembed","provider":"Denver Wine Merchant","version":"1.0","type":"link"}