Description

Ariana Occhipinti started her own winery only 15 years ago when she acquired a vineyard and a winery in the contrada Fossa di Lupo outside Vittoria in Southeastern Sicily. From the start she wanted to produce natural organic wines based on a firm belief in the land she was cultivating and the natural processes she was using. This involved accepting the diversity of soils, the slopes of the terrain, the altitude, and the originality of the vineyards. For her accepting means respecting. To respect the earth and its balance. Respect the vineyard with skillful gestures of a sensitive agriculture. To respect the fermentation through the use of local yeasts. Respect the wine as if it was a person. Respecting the nature in every gesture: from cultivation and pruning to the processing of the grapes. Everything must be in balance, which for her can be summarized as: from good grapes come good wines. Hence, all her wines are made from organically grown grapes, without the use of pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, chemical or synthetic fertilizers. The Nero d’Avola and Frappato vines for the Grotte Alte red wine are around 40 years old, and grow in limestone vineyards located at an altitude of 280 m. The grapes were manually harvested and carefully sorted at full maturity. The fermentation and maceration on the skins took place in stainless steel tanks using indigenous yeasts for 30 days. The wine was matured for 32 months in large Slavonian oak barrels and 4 months in bottles, unfiltered.