2023 COS, Ramí, Insolia/Grillo, Terre Siciliane Bianco IGP, Sicily, Italy.
A lovely golden hue in the glass hints to skin maceration and a dry extract grip on the palate confirms this impression and this Ramí by Giusto Occhipinti’s COS winery takes off in the mouth with a complex and intriguing away of pithy citrus, apricot, quince and green apple fruits, along with chalky phenolics, saline, exotic spices, mineral tones, lemon grass, verbena and orange marmalade. This “Orange wine” comes from the Vittoria region of Sicily and vines set on a combination of sedimentary clay, red sandstone and chalky limestone soils and is raised in amphora, with local varietals Insolia (50%) and Grillo (50%) used to make this unique Ramí Bianco. Like the COS Pithos white that is made in the large terra-cotta pots as done in ancient times in the Republic of Georgia, where Orange wines were first born and where COS got the inspiration. The grapes usually macerated for close to two weeks with whole berries and aged on the skins, but this Ramí fermented and aged in cement. This makes for an incredible dry wine shows a unique structure, intensity of flavor and a long finish. It’s been well documented that Sicily has a long history of winemaking, which dates back to the 8th century BC when the Greeks first planted grapes in the eastern part of the Island, with a renewed interest in recent times of the native varietals and made without oak influences and fresher profiles, with lower alcohol, that go better with the local cuisine.
The winery explains that the long skin contact and amphora (or cement), which allows movement of the lees, provides an additional level of complexity that can be seen clearly in their exotic white wines. Mostly acclaimed for their red wines, made from local varietals, COS is probably best known for their Cerasuolo di Vittorio as well as the Pithos Rosso, a Cerasuolo di Vittoria aged exclusively in amphora instead of oak, made with the Frappato and Nero d’Avola grapes. That said, COS does a beautiful selection of whites that are made from Zibbibo (the local Muscat), Grillo and Insolia, that are sometimes blended with the Grecanico too, with the Zibbibo, a highly aromatic grape, also getting the Pithos treatment, made in Amphora. I have really enjoyed discovering all of the COS wines, with this one being a fun version of Orange wine. As mentioned before, Azienda Agricola COS was founded back in 1980 by three friends, Giambattista Cilia, Giusto Occhipinti, and Cirino Strano, but is led by the dynamic personality of Giusto Occhipinti, uncle to superstar Arianna Occhipinti, who was pushed COS towards natural winemaking and all organic with all of their vineyards being certified Biodynamic and has gone away from small oak barrels and stainless steel, now concentrating on cement vats, as seen here, large neural botti and the 440-liter, Spanish made, terra-cotta amphora. I have enjoyed the wines here at COS for over a decade and they seem to get better with each vintage, I highly recommend exploring their range, especially the Nero di Lupo (Nero d’Avola) and the Frappato bottlings.
($29 Est.) 93 Points, grapelive