Arianna Occhipinti

Arianna Occhipinti grew up in Vittoria, in the southeastern corner of Sicily, and has been shaped by this land in every sense.  Her uncle, Giusto Occhipinti, is a co-founder of the celebrated COS estate, and it was he who first brought a teenage Arianna to Vinitaly, where she discovered a world she could not leave behind. 

She went on to study oenology in Milan, but returning to Sicily meant unlearning much of what she had been taught. The laboratory approach to winemaking gave way to something more elemental: learning to grow grapes and make wine from the ground up.  She started with just one hectare of abandoned vines and, over the years, expanded by replanting indigenous Frappato and Nero d’Avola using selection massale. 

Biodiversity is at the heart of her farm. She sees herself as a guardian of this place in the south of Sicily, among its red sands, limestone, and dry stone walls.  In the cellar, her approach is equally uncompromising: wild fermentations from native airborne yeasts, long maceration on skins, aging in cement tanks, and little to no intervention. 

Her wines are not made to shout. They reveal themselves gradually, with clarity and authenticity, carrying within them the geology, memory, and cultural tradition of Vittoria. 

Her flagship SP68 Rosso, a blend of Frappato and Nero d’Avola named after the country road that passes her estate, has become one of the most sought-after natural wines in the world. The road itself follows an ancient Greek wine route, from a time when Sicily was already celebrated for its vines. 

Whether you are new to Sicilian wine or deepening a passion for low-intervention viticulture, these are bottles that reward curiosity and patience in equal measure.