Too often, currently, we are used to talking about Sicilian wines thinking almost exclusively about Etna with its Nerello, Carricante and Minnella. In fact, Sicily is definitely much more, as Giambattista Cilia, Cirino Strano and Giusto Occhipinti knew as early as 1980, when they bought an old cellar, with a plot of about three and a half hectares, in the area of Vittoria (Ragusa), and established COS winery.
The area in question was (and is still today) characterized by a typically Mediterranean climate, with warm temperatures and great fertility; pedoclimatic conditions known for over three millennia. Every civilization that has passed there has left its legacy to the next one, and this has pushed the three owners to undertake a path of respect and research, accompanied by a holistic view of the vine-nature-man microcosm which led to the adoption of biodynamic practices.
Again for the same reason, also in the cellar, winemaking practices are inspired by a productive methodology that accompanies the transformation of grapes into wine, without any “change”, as neutral as possible. In this direction, finally, goes the choice to definitively abandon, in 2007, the wood aging containers, which leave their own aromas and tastes in wines, replacing them with vitrified concrete tanks and clay jars.
Among the wines produced the Cerasuolo di Vittoria Classico docg “delle Fontane”, a blend of Nero d’Avola (60%) and Frappato (40%), occupies a prominent place, also by virtue of the fact that it is the wine-symbol of the area of Vittoria. The wine comes from a selection of grapes from vineyards in the sub-area Fontane, about 200 meters above sea level, which grow on red soils of sub-Apennine Pliocene origin with a good percentage of siliceous sands and clay. These grapes, harvested between the end of September and the beginning of October, after spontaneous fermentation in cement, refine first in amphora and then in large Slavonian barrels for about two years, before bottling and marketing.
The 2012 vintage has a decidedly bright ruby color, with an olfactory effect that required an hour of oxygenation before revealing notes of marasca cherry, red currant, laurel and marzipan, followed by pomegranate, tamarind, Mediterranean scrub and pot pourri, and a final echo of blond tobacco and vinyl. The palate is characterized by a delicious freshness (it seems to bite a crisp red fruit), supported by a discreet softness and a very tasty mineral-savory note, while at the retro-olfactory level return the marasca cherry with the Mediterranean maquis and vinyl, that accompany the sip until a good length closure.
Rating: 90/100
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