Located in the southeastern province of Ragusa, this area specializes in red wines and is the epicenter of production for Cerasuolo di Vittoria, Sicily’s only DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita) wine, the most strictly regulated denomination in Italy.
A blend of Nero d’Avola and Frappato, Cerasuolo di Vittoria boasts more finesse than power. Nero d’Avola provides the structure, Frappato freshness and elegance.
Cerasuolo di Vittoria must be aged at least nine months after the harvest. Cerasuolo di Vittoria Classico, made from grapes grown in the original growing area, must be aged at least 18 months after the harvest.
Both versions boast enticing floral aromas, creamy strawberry-cherry flavors and silky tannins, although Classicos also often offer more leather, tobacco and licorice.
Besides Cerasuolo, many winemakers in the region bottle Nero d’Avola and Frappato by themselves. All are remarkably fresh and elegant, and shatter any Sicilian stereotypes of robust, high-alcohol wines.
The secret behind the area’s finesse-filled wines is the combination of soil, microclimate and indigenous grapes.
“Here in Vittoria, the sandy red topsoil gives our wines remarkable elegance and allows the roots of old vines to reach down to the nutrients and minerals found in the white calcareous rock below,” says Arianna Occhipinti, 32, one of Sicily’s rising stars.
Occhipinti is the niece of Giusto Occhipinti of COS winery. Giusto, along with Giambattista Cilia and another friend, began producing Cerasuolo di Vittoria in 1980 as a lark before college. Those early efforts started a revival that became a local winemaking renaissance.
When Occhipinti was 16, her uncle asked for help at his stand at the Vinitaly fair, and by its end, she was hooked. She studied enology and viticulture at the University of Milan, and used her free time to tour the wineries of nearby Piedmont.
On her return to Vittoria in 2003, she eschewed international grapes and the robust, densely concentrated Nero d’Avolas that defined the area at the time. She focused on making elegant wines from a small parcel of old Frappato bush vines near her parents’ home.
Occhipinti is credited as the first in the area to bottle Frappato on its own, and the wine soon captured the attention of international importers. She now has 61 acres under vine and turns out more than 130,000 bottles a year, 70% of which is exported.
In 2013, she moved production from the cramped quarters on her parents’ property to spacious new cellars constructed on a sprawling farm she acquired in 2011.
Like her uncle, Occhipinti farms organically and doesn’t intervene in the cellar, allowing spontaneous fermentation with native yeasts to occur in concrete vats. She then ages her classic reds in wooden casks.
COS conversely ages in concrete or in large casks, depending on the wine, and vinifies and ages its most famous wine, Pithos, in terra cotta amphorae.
Vittoria’s unique microclimate is a result of its location between the sea and the Hyblaean Mountains.
“During the crucial ripening period, daytime temperatures rise, but at night, the surrounding hills generate cooling breezes,” says Winemaker Massimo Maggio of Vigna di Pettineo and president of the local consorzio. “This creates crucial day and night temperature changes that keep vines fresh and healthy, setting up ideal conditions to reach perfect ripening.”
Thanks to these growing conditions, 11 of the area’s 28 producers—accounting for half of the region’s production—are certified organic. Other wineries of note include Valle dell’Acate, Planeta and Gulfi.
Recommended Wines from Vittoria
Valle dell’Acate 2011 Cerasuolo di Vittoria Classico; $28, 92 points.
COS 2012 Cerasuolo di Vittoria Classico; $39, 91 points.
Gulfi 2013 Cerasuolo di Vittoria; $20, 90 points.
Nanfro 2011 Sammauro (Cerasuolo di Vittoria); $22, 90 points.
Occhipinti 2012 Il Frappato (Sicilia); $40, 90 points.
Vigna di Pettineo 2012 Cerasuolo di Vittoria Classico; $18, 90 points.