Arianna Occhipinti Fossa di Lupo FL 2017

At first, it bursts with notes of canned tuna (although someone told me it's a can itself). But with time it opens up and reveals notes of cherry confiture, peonies, raspberry, Sicilian orange, green herbs, briar and blood. A bit restrained (or shy), but so delicious and quaffable. It's not as easy and as delicate as PT - it has a bit of BB's rebellious spirit. But there is so much joy in every sip!

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.

Fossa di Lupo (FL) is a few kilometers down the SP68 from the winery. It is Arianna's original 6-hectare vineyard. These vines are relatively young at about 15 years, albarello-trained and planted on a thin 40 centimeters of sand over limestone rock. According to Arianna, wines from Fossa di Lupo typically originate as fruity but also austere, presenting great acidity.

Arianna Occhipinti's Frappato FL is a red wine of great substance: juicy, tart and sanguine, an extraordinarily lively drink. Expression of the frappato in the Fossa di Lupo district, the most energetic, between biting acidity and austerity.

--- 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.

What a beautiful development of Frappato from Fossa di Lupo contrada. It's aromatic and flowery with notes of cherry confiture, peonies, raspberry, Sicilian orange and briar. Medium-bodied, bone dry and crisp. The tannin is dry and medium. Good balance with a long and persistent finish. Charming flavours of Sicilian orange, eucalyptus, briar, and iron. The bitterness at the end works on complexity. Overall, it's an elegant, sophisticated and beautiful wine.

You pour a little bit of this wine and you get a glass full of bloody sausages with some red flowers, lots of cherry, raspberry and spices. Well balanced, young and not complex despite the subtlety of bouquet and palate. But I'm in love with iron (e.g. ferrum) finish mixed with a ripe cherry.

Ripe cherry, blood sausage, red flowers, cherry nut, spices and balsamic notes. Still very young, fruit-forward character. Requires decanting (for at least 30 minutes) to become smooth. Not perfectly, but well balanced, tannins are still rough. Pleasant and drinkable wine with long evolving aftertaste and flavours of ripe cherry and ferrum with pleasant vanilla finish.

Fossa di Lupo FL

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