2018 Azienda Agricola COS Cerasuolo Di Vittoria, Sicily, Italy

ABOUT THIS WINE

A blend of 60% Nero d’Avola, 40% Frappato that is grown in red soil of medium consistency made up of subalpine sands composed of limestone and silica; 300 meters in elevation; flat exposition.

The fruit is hand-harvested from 25-year-old (avg) vines; spontaneous fermentation in concrete tanks on the skins with indigenous yeast; aged in Slavonian oak Botti for 18 months followed by one year in the bottle before release; organic certified.

ABOUT THIS PRODUCER

Three friends founded Azienda Agricola COS, in 1980: Giambattista Cilia, Cirino Strano and Giusto Occhipinti. The acronym of their last names is where the name for the winery – COS – comes from.

In 1980, they were the youngest wine producers in Italy. They received an old family winery from Giambattista Cilia’s father Giuseppe Cilia and the nearby vineyard of bush trained vines, a total of 3.60.40 hectares in the famed town of Bastonaca. On October 5, 1980 they harvested their first vintage and made 1,470 bottles. COS began its adventure that would one day lead to the transformation of Cerasuolo di Vittoria. The winery follows the principles of biodynamic faming in order to help the vines find and maintain a balance with nature in order to be able to express their true character and that of their terroir. For vinification, they decided to use terracotta vases that left no traces or aromas on the wine but were completely neutral vessels. In 2000, Pithos was born, a Cerasuolo di Vittoria that ferments and ages in amphora. They finished working on a building in Fontane, which in 2003 became the headquarters of the winery. In 2005, they made the first wine that bore the Denominazione d’Origine Controllata e Garantita (D.O.C.G.) designation, the only one in Sicily. The harvest of 2007 saw the winery in a new location and was the beginning of use of only amphora. The winery got rid of the barrels that they had and use only 150 amphoras’, one of the largest of its kind. Today COS is associated not only with the success of Cerasuolo di Vittoria but also with rigor and quality. It’s thanks to these three friends that the region of Cerasuolo di Vittoria was reborn and the area around Vittoria is thriving with its extraordinary wines.