Arianna Occhipinti SP68 Rosso 2025
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The Land
SP68 is the number of a provincial road. Strada Provinciale 68 runs from Vittoria toward Pedalino across the southeastern corner of Sicily and passes directly through Arianna Occhipinti's vineyards, and that is where the name comes from. The ground it crosses is nothing like the Sicily most people picture. Around Vittoria the soil is deep red sand sitting on sub-Apennine calcareous limestone, at roughly 250 to 280 meters between the Iblei Mountains and the sea. Sand gives pale color and fine tannin and keeps yields naturally low; the limestone below holds water through a dry summer and keeps acidity from collapsing. Nights drop hard even in August. The fruit for this bottling comes from multiple contrade rather than one.
The Wine
70% Frappato and 30% Nero d'Avola: Frappato for lift, perfume, and transparency; Nero d'Avola for a little flesh and grip underneath. Hand-harvested, destemmed, and co-fermented spontaneously in concrete with no temperature control, with a maceration that runs up to thirty days, then aged six to eight months in concrete and bottled unfiltered with minimal sulfur. No oak at any point, which is why the fruit reads so clearly. The wine is semi-transparent ruby, running to wild cherry, dried violet, white pepper, Sicilian herbs, and a saline mineral streak, light to medium in body with bright energetic acidity, fine-grained tannin, and a long mineral finish. It is unexpectedly delicate for a warm-climate southern red, and it is the wine that made most people outside Italy notice this producer.
The People
Arianna Occhipinti was sixteen when her uncle Giusto, a founder of COS, brought her to Vinitaly for four days. She studied viticulture in Milan, 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. She now farms roughly 25 certified organic hectares across nine contrade, biodynamically since 2009. Native yeast, no temperature control, no fining, no filtration, sulfur only at bottling, and concrete throughout since the gravity-fed cellar was built in 2014.
Food Pairing
Serve it cool and it goes almost anywhere. Pasta alla Norma, grilled sardines or swordfish, roast chicken with olives and herbs, or a plate of prosciutto and young pecorino. The light tannin and high acidity mean it works with fish and tomato where a heavier red would not, and the pepper and herb character picks up whatever is in the pan. Twenty minutes in the fridge before opening, and it is the most useful bottle on the table.
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.
