All wines
Arianna Occhipinti
Bombolieri BB
2017
4.3
Region
Italy › Sicily › IGP Terre Siciliane
Type
red · still
Grapes
Frappato
Alcohol
12.5%
Volume
750 mL
Sugar
1 g/L
Tasting Notes(2)
4.3
More than two years passed since the last time I tasted BB '17. And I remember it as a demanding, even challenging and electric wine. Today it still has this dangerous character, but it also become more interesting and multilayered.
And I adore how knocking and charming it is, all at the same time. The glass wafts with notes of blood sausage, salami, dried herbs, black pepper, limestone, VA and leather. On the palate, BB '17 offers high acidity and dry tannin. The oak influence here is delicate. And the aftertaste is long and flavourful - dry earth, raspberry and dried herbs with a bloody (aka metallic) finish.
About
It is not permitted to place contrada (district) names on Sicilian wine labels, so Arianna figured a clever way around the rules. Each contrada is represented by a two-letter abbreviation cheekily struck through with a line to emphasize their illicitness. SM stands for Santa Margherita, BB - for Bomboliere, PT - for Pettineo and FL - for Fossa di Lupo.
Bombolieri (BB) is adjacent to the winery and the last of the three Frappato parcels to be harvested. It consists of a few rows of 40-year-old, bush-trained (aka albarello) vines on a scant 25 centimetres of sandy white topsoil over pure limestone rock with almost no clay. The limestone holds water, slows down ripening and contributes a firm acidity and structure. Arianna finds it to be the most austere of the trio.
Arianna Occhipinti's Frappato BB is a red wine of great substance: juicy, sour and sanguine, an extraordinarily lively drink. Expression of the frappato in the Bombolieri district, the most structured between sharp acidity and dense tannic texture.
-- Tripple A
Destemming, maceration on the skins and spontaneous fermentation in 85 hl concrete vats for 25 days with daily pumping over and punching down. Racking and ageing in the same containers for 6 months and in Austrian oak barrels for 12 months.
