Arianna Occhipinti Bianco Contrada Santa Margherita 2024
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The Land
Occhipinti built her reputation on the red sand of Vittoria, close to the sea. This wine comes from somewhere else entirely: Contrada Santa Margherita, a site she found in 2016 at 490 meters in the foothills of the Monti Iblei outside Chiaramonte Gulfi, surrounded by pine, oak, and centuries-old olive trees. The altitude alone changes the equation, adding a cold-night swing that Vittoria does not get. So does the geology. Where Vittoria is sand over limestone, this is white calcareous marl, calcarenite, and gypsum, marine sediment laid down in the Pleistocene when the whole area sat under water. The vineyard breaks into four parcels: Costa Sud and Costa Nord, alberello-trained on the gypsum-rich ground, give salinity; Terrazza and Trefile, trellised over limestone, give acidity.
The Wine
100% Grillo, which is a deliberate provocation. Grillo belongs to western Sicily, the Marsala country, and planting it in the southeastern highlands is not what anyone does. The fruit gets a short maceration of about 48 hours, then ferments spontaneously in a combination of concrete and large oval Austrian oak casks, where it stays for twelve months. No new wood flavor, no filtration, no correction. The result is a Grillo with far more structure and mineral drive than the variety usually shows: white peach, lemon confit, wild fennel, crushed shell, and a chalky, gypsum-driven salinity that builds through the finish. 2024 was a drought year across Sicily, hot and dry with sharply reduced yields, which concentrated what came in. Give it a few years and it will get more interesting, not less.
The People
Arianna Occhipinti started in 2004 at twenty-one with a single hectare outside Vittoria, and has spent the two decades since arguing that southeastern Sicily is a serious wine region rather than a source of bulk material. Farming is certified organic, cellar work uses native yeast and no filtration, and the Vino di Contrada bottlings are her most site-specific line, each from one named parcel. Santa Margherita is the most recent and the most exploratory: a different altitude, a different soil, and a grape from the other end of the island. It is what a producer does when she has already proven the point at home.
Food Pairing
Enough weight and salinity to take on real cooking. Grilled octopus with lemon and olive oil, roasted branzino with fennel, pasta with sea urchin or bottarga, or a young pecorino with green olives. The saline core meets the sea flavors directly and the twelve months in cask give it enough body for anything roasted. Serve it cool but not cold, and open it thirty minutes ahead.
We ship wine to most states with a $100 minimum order for shipping. We don't ship spirits nor beer.
Weather shipping advisory: Orders placed during times of extreme heat or extreme cold will be held for no charge until more favorable weather returns.
Sicily, Italy’s largest island, blends ancient wine traditions with a fresh wave of modern creativity. Its star red grape, Nero d’Avola, thrives in the island’s warm, sun-soaked climate, producing intensely flavored wines with dark fruit and a hint of savory spice. Along the western coast lies the historic heartland of Marsala, a fortified wine prized for both sweet and dry styles. Rising above the island’s varied landscapes is Mount Etna, an active volcano whose mineral-rich soils and cooler elevations result in elegantly structured reds and nuanced whites. From coast to crater, Sicily’s wine culture is as diverse and vibrant as the region itself.
