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Take Me Home, Country Roads

Occhipinti
SP68 Bianco 2019
Terre Siciliane IGT
Zibibbo (aka Muscat of Alexandria) 60%, Albanello 40%
Vittoria, Sicily, Italy
Organic, biodynamic, dry farming, guyot, hand-harvested, 2 weeks skin contact, and native yeasts
Owner and Winemaker: Arianna Occhipinti

Deep golden color with orange tint. Orange, tangerine, and other beautiful citrus waft in along with a hedge of honeysuckles (I can just see honey bees darting from flower to flower and shaking their little bee butts), wild flowers, and a little fresh grass. Tasting again that orange but blended with some smoke. There’s also honey, peaches, apricot, and, a little bit of a French spice blend like the Bouquet Garni from Penzeys. It’s clean and has a fresh zing on the back of the tongue.

Pairs with Cheez-It’s: Don’t even think about trying that

I’ll start with a quote by Saint-Exupery, that Arianna Occhipinti has on her site, “We do not inherit the land from our ancestors; we borrow It from our children”. What she did inherit was her love for Sicily and the wines from her Uncle Giusto Occhipinti (of COS Winery fame) while helping out in his cellar starting at the age of 16. She also picked up her natural, organic, biodynamic, and reverence for the land from him, even if she did go to oenology school (at 18) for the practical bits. While there she continued to question, made friends with “natural winemakers”, and knew that was to be her path post graduation. As she also says on her site, “Respect the wine as if it was a person. A person who takes with him/her, a world, a history, an atmosphere. And it tastes like the land where it was born from.” This is evident in her SP68 Bianco which is named after the road that winds near her vineyards…a road of deep history that part can be traced back to a 3000 year old stone path which eventually became the oldest wine route documented. When you have a glass of this, just remember a part of this history lives in you.

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A Liquid Postcard

Cantine Chessa
C’era Una Volta 2017
Vermentino di Sardegna DOC
Usini, Sardegna, Italy
100% Vermentino
Sustainable farming, indigenous yeasts
Winemaker: Giovanna Chessa

Deep gold skin-contact orangey. Breathing in honey and honeysuckles, smoke, melon, pear, and hazelnut. This is definitely an invitation to an enchanted evening of wonder. Tasting and again honey, smoke/a touch of oak, melon, and ripe pear. There’s also something mineral that I believe is white pepper. This is glorious! We need a choir hallelujah here!

Pairs with Cheez-It’s: bright melon and pear and lighter honey

Giovanna Chessa has woven a delightful dream with “C’era Una Volta” which translates to “Once Upon a Time”. She is truly such an amazing winemaker. Loving the four day skin-contact and also that she lets the spontaneous indigenous yeasts work their magic at first in stainless steel and then later in used French barrels, so it lets the grapes sing. Or as Giovanna says, “The bottle is a liquid postcard” that can transport you to Sardegna, and learn the history of the land, the grapes and her story. Also the label captures the beauty and fairytale of this wine. It even won a silver medal at the MUSE Design Awards for Redfish Adv and Sara Pilloni. If you’re inspired and want to find out more about Sara’s art, check it out here.

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Strawberry Swing

Gulfi
Cerasuolo di Vittoria DOCG 2018
Chiaramonte Gulfi, Ragusa, Sicily, Italy
50% Frappato, 50% Nero d’Avola
Organic and dry farmed
Winemaker: Vito Catania

Deep reddish purple yet glistening light sparkles. Beautiful berry fragrance, cherries, prunes, and delicate tiny flowers. Sipping strawberries, cherries, raspberries, blackberries (ok this is a lot of berries), prune which is more rich as it warms, and some tart yet becomes more velvety. There’s some earth, but also keeps stays light with a dry tingle. Oh, and this is also a wine you can give a little chill.

Pairs with Cheez-It’s: berry goodness

The depiction of the passion that Eros and Psyche found in the end of their mythical soap opera tale, is found on almost all of Gulfi’s bottles and branded on their barrels. That same passion comes out in Vito Catania’s wines and his love and dedication to the land. Started with inheriting land from his father, and then over time further expanding. Vito invested a lot of research into the history and vines, and started working with Salvo Foti to sort which would be the best soils for his dream. Now Gulfi has grown to (from what I am finding) 70 hectares. I would so love to find out more about the winery, but their site is undergoing a revamp. Looking forward to when it’s back up, and I can learn more. In the meanwhile, let’s enjoy another modern mythical strawberry romance tale.

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A Day Under the Trees

Cantina Marilina
‘Fedelie’ Bianco Frizzante NV
Ancestral Method
Terre Siciliane IGP
Noto, Sicily, Italy
100% Moscato
Organic, indigenous yeasts, no fining or filtration
Winemakers: Marilina, Federica and Angelo Paternò

Orange gold with tiny natural bubbles. Starts with tiny toasty scents but ditches out and turns into orange soda (not Orangina), citrus peel, lemon, and that candy called something like ginger chews. Mmmm sipping orange fizz, honeysuckle, and pear cider-esque, with a dash of salt, tingly bubbles and a hint at the finish bitter. Fabulous pét-nat.

Pairs with Cheez-It’s: pairs deliciously well and brings out the pear cider

This is my second wine by Cantina Marilina, and I’m just as impressed as the first (Sikelé 2017). This time though, I’m taking more time to look into the family behind the vines. Angelo Paternò worked for many years in the wine industry until he settled in Noto (a very sunny and windy area) and built his own cellar and vineyard. Working alongside him were also his daughters Marilina and Federica Paternò. As you can see from this sweet video on their site, the next generation is already pitching in too. They’re also very into keeping everything organic and natural. Keeping the fruit trees within the vineyard, using recycled paper for their labels, recyclable glass bottles, and real corks. Staying sustainable, the old fashioned way. Would love to one day visit and sit under their olive trees. You can relax with either their basket of a bottle of wine, pane cunzato, some of their jam, cheese and a Sicilian salad; or you can opt for a tasting of 4 wines, homemade bread and their olive oil, cheeses and salami, their homemade jams, Sicilian salad and scacce. Absolutely mouthwatering delicious!

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