From COS, one of Sicily’s true benchmark producers, who are certified organic and farm biodynamically. They emphasise wines of purity and freshness, rely exclusively on indigenous yeasts and eschew any overt oak influence.
Made up of 60% Nero d’Avola and 40% Frappato, hand harvested from 25 year old vines, the COS Cerasuolo di Vittoria is fermented in concrete tanks before being aged for 18 months in old Slavonian oak botti. Picked for freshness and acidity, this wine is much more in the raspberry / red cherry spectrum than you might expect, with a sense of tension and minerality that adds interest and complexity. Outstanding.
The 2016 Cerasuolo di Vittoria Classico is a very nice wine that shows a smooth texture and a delicate approach that grows in intensity. There are small-berry aromas with cassis, wild raspberry and dried blueberry, which would spruce up any pasta like a Sicilian pasta alla Norma. A blend of 40% Frappato and 60% Nero d’Avola aged in oak barrels for 12 months, the wine is delicate and smooth, with tiny steps that go the long haul. The tannins are well integrated and give the wine a firm, upstanding backbone. Some 83,000 bottles were made. – Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate
