COS Frappato 2025

Azienda Agricola Cos works in south-eastern Sicily, founded in 1980 to revive traditional methods and to express the volcanic soils of the area. This red is made from Frappato, a native variety prized for perfume and lightness rather than power, and the terroir shows in the glass: the sandy, volcanic ground gives a wine that is pale in colour, low in tannin and high in aromatic lift, with a stony freshness underneath. The estate farms organically and ferments in terracotta vats rather than oak, an old Mediterranean practice in which the porous clay allows a slow, gentle oxygen exchange that rounds the texture while adding no wood flavour, so the fruit and the site stay unmasked. At twelve per cent alcohol the wine is light and bright. The colour is translucent ruby. The nose leads with red berries, fresh cherry, rose and white flowers, then a savoury thread of black pepper, thyme and earth. The palate is light-bodied and fresh, the tannins soft and the finish clean and perfumed. This is a red to enjoy young and lightly chilled. Serve at 14 to 15 degrees, with roast chicken, charcuterie or tomato-based dishes.