At 22, Arianna Occhipinti bottled her first vintage from a single hectare on Sicily's southeastern flank. Two decades later she farms 40 hectares of red sand over limestone and has become the most recognized name in Italian natural wine.
Backstory
Occhipinti founded her estate, Azienda Agricola Arianna Occhipinti, in 2004 with one hectare of vines in the Contrada Fossa di Lupo, along the SP68 country road that runs between Vittoria and Pedalino in the province of Ragusa. She had studied viticulture and enology in Milan and released her debut wine at age 22, drawing early attention as a young woman reviving old indigenous grapes by hand at a time when much of Sicily chased volume and international varieties.
The estate has since grown to roughly 40 hectares of vines, expanding from Fossa di Lupo into the Bombolieri, Pettineo, and Bastonaca districts. Her uncle, Giusto Occhipinti of the pioneering COS winery, helped inspire her path, but Arianna built her own identity around place, biodiversity, and minimal intervention, and today ranks among the most influential figures in Italian natural wine.
The Region
The estate sits in the heart of the Cerasuolo di Vittoria DOCG, Sicily's only DOCG, in the southeast of the island near the Iblei Mountains. The land is defined by red sand over limestone bedrock, dry stone walls, and a wind that arrives off the Iblei in the evening. It is a warm but breezy corner of Sicily, well suited to the aromatic, high-acid Frappato and the structured Nero d'Avola that define the appellation.
Vineyards & Farming
Vines grow at around 280 meters of elevation on red sand over chalky limestone. Occhipinti has farmed all of her land biodynamically since 2009. Older parcels are trained in the traditional alberello (bush vine) system, with newer plantings on guyot, and vines are encouraged to grow vigorous canopies that preserve freshness under the Sicilian sun.
The property is run as a living patchwork rather than a monoculture. Vineyards are interspersed with olive trees, fruit trees, fields of ancient grains, and animals, and the estate also produces olive oil and preserved foods. Occhipinti describes herself and her team as guardians of this stretch of southern Sicily, with biodiversity treated as the foundation of vine health rather than an afterthought.
Winemaking
Winemaking is deliberately simple. Fermentations run on native airborne yeasts, reds macerate on the skins for roughly 30 days, and wines age in concrete tanks before a final rest in bottle ahead of release. Occhipinti adds little or no sulfur, does not fine, and does not filter, letting the grapes and the character of each vintage speak directly through the glass.
The Wines
Her entry wines, SP68 Rosso and SP68 Bianco, are named for the road past the estate; the red blends Frappato and Nero d'Avola for a lifted, savory, everyday Sicilian. Il Frappato is her signature, an ethereal yet structured expression of the variety, while Siccagno is her pure Nero d'Avola, dried-cherry and spice-driven with limestone grip. Grotte Alte, a Frappato and Nero d'Avola blend from limestone at elevation, is her flagship Cerasuolo di Vittoria. She also produces the more approachable Tami range.
