Producer Arianna Occhipinti

SICILY

The cellar of Arianna Occhipinti is located in Vittoria, in the province of Ragusa, leaning on one side of the now famous P68 road which in ancient times was of stone and connected Gela to Kamarina. Today, however, it runs through the streets of Cerasuolo di Vittoria and from Caltagirone continues for Catania. Arianna, a class in 1982, with a degree in Agriculture and Enology at Milan, decides to return to Sicily and to create a winegrower from scratch. Purchase its first hectare of land near its palm grove in Fossa di Lupo, a magical place where the land, which in the evening is colored red and is combed by the wind coming from the Iblei, and planted its first vineyard. Since then 10 years have passed and the company of Arianna has been enlarged by buying land in the districts Bombolieri, Bastonaca and Pettineo, and cultivating only native vines of the area: Frappato, Nero d'Avola, Cerasuolo di Vittoria, Albanello and Zibibbo. The average age of vineyards is 20 years, but some reach half a century. Arianna's production philosophy is absolutely natural: forbidden use of chemicals in vineyard but only for the use of copper and zinc, spontaneous fermentations with only native yeasts made in concrete tanks, large barrel aging no filtration before 'bottling. Arianna follows the whole winemaking process and her wines are genuine, natural. Fresh, complex, certainly among the most respected of the terroir.