November 30, 2024

The Best Wineries in Vittoria

Matt Bird

One of my favourite Noto activities is winery tours and wine tastings. As in any wine-producing country, some incredible wines are recommended, and others are not. These are my recommendations!

Italy is the World's Largest Wine Producer

Italy is the largest wine-producing region in the world, with 47 million hectolitres, closely followed by France with 42 million hectolitres and Spain with 33 million hectolitres (2023 figures).

Sicily is Italy's fourth largest wine-producing region, with Veneto, Apulia and Emilia-Romagna in first, second and third place, respectively. It is most certainly not all about quantity, with 186 wines receiving medals at the Decanter World Wine Awards 2023.

Sicily has several unique indigenous grape varietals. The most produced reds are Nero d'Avola, Frappato and Nerello Mascalese, and as for the whites, Grillo, Catarratto and Inzolia.

Vittoria Wineries

Vittoria is one of the oldest wine growing regions in Sicily and in 2005 was given DOC (Denominazione di Origine Controllata - literally Controlled Designation of Origin) a certification applied to Italian wines that, under the law, have distinctive features of superior quality, determined by the grape varietal and the production area as well as the techniques for processing and aging.

Please note Vittoria is a 2-hour drive from Noto but well worth it for a day of tastings!

‍

COS

I love it when friends decide to do something they love together. That is precisely how Azienda Agricola COS was founded in 1980. Three friends, Giambattista Cilia, Cirino Strano and Giusto Occhipinti, who love wine, decided to produce their wine. The acronym of their last names is where the name for the winery—COS—comes from!

COS is reputed to be the first wine made in Sicily to make natural wines.

Some of their wines are fermented in Pithos or clay pots. These are sunk into the group to aid with temperature control, an ancient pre-Greek winemaking method. Clay is porous, allowing air into the wine, resulting in a slightly oxidised style, which I love!

“We are at the farthest tip of South Eastern Sicily. The taste of Africa jumps out at you from the various architectural ruins and, more importantly, from the vegetation: olive, carob and almond trees and vines abound. The climate also recalls Africa with its red, ochre and yellow tones. Our wines tell our story and the story of our ancestral lands. For over 3000 years, the Earth has had grape vines. This is an extraordinary gift that we have been given and that we have received with humility and work within our way. We are always looking to work as artists in terms of our concept of a wine. This has enabled us to undertake a challenging path but one that we are fully satisfied with and that we intend to pursue wholeheartedly. For the past 30 years, we have been creating our history and putting it into every glass of our wine, our story, the story of our ancestral lands.” (from the COS website).

Cost: None

Location: S.P. 3 Acate-Chiaramonte, 97019 - Vittoria (RG)

Instagram: NA

‍

Occhipinti

Arianna Occhipinti's winery, one of Italy's most celebrated women winemakers, is on the now famous Strada Provinciale 68. She is fiercely traditional in her approach to wine and very respectful of the land and nature. She uses green manure in alternate rows, treatments with only copper and sulphur, fermentation carried out in cement tanks with indigenous yeasts, no filtration and ageing in large wood barrels with low or no toasting.

“Vittoria, the wine, the vineyard, the dry stone walls. This is my land. The sun rising, early in the morning, on the Iblei Mountains, while the sky blushes in layers and the warm light spreads among the rows of pits in Lupo, my district. I love the grapes of these places, Frappato and Nero d'Avola. I find myself in their expression, in their being harmonious and unequal. I adore the strength of knowing how to carry a past and a future inside at the same time.” (from the Occhipinti website).