2014 Arianna Occhipinti, Il Frappato, Terre Siciliane, Italy.
The new Il Frappato from Arianna Occhipinti is a pure and elegant example of her style and passion of place, her fans will adore it and it will certainly appeal to a whole new set of wine enthusiasts with it’s beautiful layers of silky fruit, natural earthy character and charmingly unique in detail. Arianna is one of Sicily’s leading lights, her organic and natural approach has been widely followed and her wines have a rabid following, she has become a world class talent, her wines really reflect her personality, hard work and love of place, in particular this Il Frappato, her signature wine, captures her essence perfectly. The latest set of wines, including this one and Arianna’s SP68 Rosso a blend of Frappato and Nero d’Avola, are complete, complex and exciting wines with graceful mouth feel and compelling length, especially this Il Frappato with it’s richer profile and intriguing strawberry and tangy red berry fruit, exotic spiciness and lovely transparency. The 2014 starts with hints of reduction, so decant if possible, though this will be of no issue as the wine ages a bit longer in bottle, before revealing floral notes, mineral and loam with a pretty ruby/garnet hue in the glass and a silky smooth texture on the palate with subtle pepper, Asian spices, mulberry/lingon berry and an amaro note. The wine is fruity with sweet tannin, but is well balanced with savory/earthy and stony elements, it is controlled with bright acidity and was raised in neutral oak that has refined this poised medium/full Frappato. The wine really gets into a rhythm with air, drinking with purpose and flair, lingering with cinnamon, traces of guava jelly, red peach, saline, truffle and back to wild strawberry. This is one of my favorite Occhipinti wines to date, exceptional stuff, joyous with cuisine and with the potential to develop further with time, I’d say it should need another year or two to fully find itself, best from 2017 to 2022.
($39 Est.) 93+ Points, grapelive