COS Rami Insolia e Grillo 2025

Azienda Agricola COS works biodynamically in Vittoria, in south-eastern Sicily, the estate founded in 1980 that helped revive amphora winemaking in Italy. Rami is an orange wine from Grecanico and Inzolia, two Sicilian whites that hold their acidity in the warm Mediterranean climate. The grapes are fermented in contact with their skins, which extracts tannin, colour and aromatic compounds and gives the wine its amber tint and gentle grip. It then ages seven months in a combination of clay amphorae and cement, both neutral vessels that add no oak flavour, with the amphorae allowing a little oxygen exchange and the cement preserving freshness, so the wine stays bright and savoury rather than oxidative. Farmed biodynamically with native yeasts, it reads as fresh and textural. The colour is pale amber. The nose shows orange peel, white peach and green apple, lifted by dried herbs and white flowers. The palate is dry and crisp, the skin tannin a light grip, closing on citrus peel and almond. Serve at 10 to 12 degrees in a white wine glass. It suits white fish, shellfish and goat cheese.