May 15, 2025

ARIANNA OCCHIPINTI

by Kevin Hart

The Voice of Vittoria, Rooted in Soul and Soil

Some vineyard visits linger in your memory, resurfacing when you try to explain why wine matters. A vineyard, a bottle, a person can leave such a lasting mark. My time in Vittoria with Arianna Occhipinti in 2016 is one of those moments.

I had followed her wines for years before that dusty September day. They had always spoken to me. There was energy, texture, restraint. The kind of bottles you reserve for dinners with your closest friends. They made you pause mid-sip and pay attention. But seeing the source, walking her vineyards, and feeling the harvest energy changed everything.

"The first gesture I learned while making wine was to accept. To accept the diversity of soils, the slope of the land, the altitude, and the originality of a vineyard. Accepting means respecting. Respecting the land and its balance. Respecting the vineyard with the wise gestures of sensitive agriculture. Respecting fermentations thanks to the contribution of indigenous yeasts. Respecting wine as if it were a person. A person who carries with him a world, a story, a soul that knows the land from which it is born." - Arianna Occhipinti

That day, the air buzzed with the sounds and scents of harvest. Bees swarmed sweet berries in bins on the backs of tractors. Vineyard crews moved with quiet intensity, knowing every hour mattered. Then Arianna appeared, jumping down from a passing tractor pulling fruit from the most recent pick. Strong, grounded, warm. Her arms open, her eyes focused. “Let me show you the winery,” she said. She calls a co-work to take the load of fruit to the sorting table. And we followed.

Vittoria and Ragusa: A Region Rediscovered

To understand Occhipinti’s wines, you have to understand Vittoria and the broader province of Ragusa.

Vittoria, founded in 1607 by Vittoria Colonna Henriquez, Countess of Modica, is situated on a plain overlooking the Ippari River, west of Ragusa city. The town, gracefully laid out on a chessboard pattern, was established to promote agricultural and economic development in the area. Today, Vittoria is known for its architectural beauty, rich history, and, notably, its wine production, particularly the Cerasuolo di Vittoria, a prestigious red wine made from Nero d'Avola and Frappato grapes.

The province of Ragusa, located in the southeastern part of Sicily, is renowned for its robust, intense red wines, made unique by the region's distinctive terroir. The area is characterized by its fertile plains, rolling hills, and the Hyblean Mountains, which provide a unique microclimate ideal for viticulture. The combination of sandy soils and limestone-rich subsoils contributes to the elegance and freshness of the wines produced here.

Historically, the economy of Ragusa has been driven by agriculture, with a focus on viticulture, olive oil production, and dairy farming. The region's commitment to traditional farming practices and its emphasis on quality over quantity have helped preserve its agricultural heritage and promote sustainable development.

A Winery Built with Purpose

Her winery, completed in 2013, is as intentional as her farming. There’s no flash, no vanity architecture. Just thoughtful design that allows the wines to move gently from one stage to the next. Cement tanks for fermentation, neutral vessels for aging, and a layout built not only around convenience but also around care.

The goal isn’t to make a “natural wine”; it’s to make a true wine. One that captures the personality of each site, each year, each decision. Her practices are organic and biodynamic, but they’re also Sicilian in the most rooted and ancient sense of the word.

Arianna grew up alongside the team at COS. Her uncle Giusto was one of the pioneers of the region’s renaissance. But her voice is her own. Her wines are not just thoughtful; they are deliberate, emotional, sometimes even provocative. They make you feel something.

The Wines Themselves

Her range is compact but resonant. Each wine tells a story.

SP68 Rosso & Bianco: Named after the road that runs past her estate, these are her “everyday” wines, though they are anything but simple. The rosso (Frappato and Nero d’Avola) is light on its feet, with red cherry, wild herbs, and a savory finish that lingers like conversation. The bianco, a blend of Zibibbo and Albanello, is aromatic, salty, and surprisingly layered.
Il Frappato: This is Arianna’s signature, her manifesto in a bottle. It redefines what Frappato can be: lifted, structured, and complex. It is floral and earthy at once, ethereal but never slight.
Siccagno: Her pure Nero d’Avola. Here, the grape sheds its overripe reputation and shows something regal: dried cherry, spice, and the grip of limestone. Serious, soulful, and ageworthy.
Grotte Alte: Her top wine, a Cerasuolo di Vittoria in all but name. It’s a blend of the two grapes she knows best, grown on limestone at elevation. Long-aged before release, it is a wine of tension and beauty, the culmination of her thinking, her land, and her purpose.

A Life of Learning

After the winery tour, we ended the day in her kitchen. Built of thick limestone walls and filled with empty bottles, mementos of travels, friendships, and study. This is a common sight in winemakers’ homes, a kind of altar to shared meals and inspired thinking.

For Arianna, wine is a constant education. She listens to the land, to other growers, and to her own instincts. That humility and drive are why her wines evolve, vintage after vintage, not chasing fashion but finding deeper roots.

Revered by the World

Arianna’s wines were once insider secrets, whispered about among sommeliers and passed under tables between friends. But the word is out. She has been featured in Stan Tucci’s Discovering Italy, The New York Times, Bon Appétit, Wine Spectator, Decanter, and SevenFifty Daily. Sommeliers from Tokyo to Paris, New York to Melbourne list her wines not as novelties but as essentials, as long as they can obtain bottles.

And like all things truly rare and handmade, they’re harder to come by each year. We’ve been lucky at Hart & Cru to receive allocations in the past, but this vintage, the quantities were heartbreakingly small. That’s the nature of wine made with integrity. Some years you have more, some years less. You trust the vineyard, you trust the process.

Why We Care

There are many wines we love, but there are only a few that remind us why we do this work. Arianna Occhipinti’s wines are among them.

They carry the fingerprint of their maker and the imprint of the land. They ask for your attention but never demand it. They taste like where they come from, and somehow, like something you’ve been waiting to taste all your life.

We are proud to share these bottles with you. And we’re even more proud to call Arianna a friend.

Just don’t be surprised if we hold a few back for ourselves.

Cheers from The Cru!