INSIDER'S PICK: 2021 AZ. AG. COS FRAPPATO TERRE SICILIANE $30.99

Even though we will not be doing the public tasting portion of the Insider's Pick until further notice, we will still be offering the wine for purchase with the usual 10% discount on Thursday and Friday. The wines will still be ones we highly recommend, and the tasting notes will still be our own. We will be returning to doing just the one wine on Thursdays and Fridays until further notice. We hope you are able to come by and get some wines to enjoy.

If you have enjoyed a Sicilian wine over the last 25+ years, you probably owe a debt of gratitude to the COS winery from the region of Vittoria. First formed by three friends in 1980 (the name formed by the first letters of each of their last name), their winery was among the very first at the time to reintroduce a focus on quality and regional terroir to an island that had largely become known for bulk wines. Their theories on organic farming, indigenous varieties in old vineyards, and improving traditional winemaking techniques with modern know-how have influenced all of Sicily (the Mount Etna are in particular) as well as many other wineries across the Mediterranean. Their influence on the next generation of winemakers is immediately evident as well; the niece of Giusto Occhipinti (the 'O' in COS), Arianna, has had her own label since the 2006 vintage, and is largely considered one of the best modern voices in Italian winemaking. Frappato is an important native grape in much of Sicily and parts of Calabria, and is the perfect wine to introduce people to the uniqueness this region holds. Frappato is soft and spicy with a fruit character that is similar to Primitivo or Zinfandel, but also light and fresh, restrained in alcohol and tannin, which also can garner comparisons to fine Cru Beaujolais. COS ages this wine in their large collection of concrete vats to let the natural brightness of the grape show through as well as their use of native yeasts to create a wine that truly delivers a taste of the region. Snappy fresh cherry and floral raspberry skin aromas, a lovely mouth-filling texture from time aging on the skins and being bottled unfiltered, but not thick at all or overpowering on the finish. Great to pair with a gourmet pizza or a spicier chicken dish, and just about anything that has sun dried tomatoes in it.

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