If ever a wine could be described as “charming,” Frappato would be it. This is a native red grape of southeastern Sicily which, as a varietal wine, is not only completely unique but an utter joy to drink. Once you’ve tried it, you want to know more about it—not to mention drink more of it and bring your fellow wine geeks into the tent while you’re at it.
Taste today’s bright and beguiling Frappato from Nanfro and you’ll see what I mean: It is likely to become your newest obsession. And if this is your first experience with the variety, you couldn’t ask for a better interlocutor than the Antica Tenuta del Nanfro—a magnificent property near the ancient city of Caltagirone in southeastern Sicily that has been Certified Organic since 1998. In Sicily, a place known for agriculture at ‘industrial’ scale, that’s a significant credential, and part of the considerable charm of today’s 2017 is the purity it radiates. It’s fresh, lightweight, tangy without being tannic…a sunny (and affordable) Sicilian counterpoint to Cru Beaujolais or Poulsard from the Jura. Prepare to be charmed—and to crave a second bottle once the first one disappears!
Frappato in “varietal” form is a relatively recent phenomenon in its home region of Vittoria, an appellation named for a town near Ragusa in southern Sicily. The traditional wine of the area was Cerasuolo di Vittoria, in which the lighter, strawberry-scented Frappato is used to leaven the darker, more muscular Nero d’Avola (the classic Cerasuolo di Vittoria blend was 60%-40% in favor of Nero d’Avola). It was (and is) an ‘opposites attract’ blend and an important-enough Sicilian wine that the Cerasuolo di Vittoria appellation was elevated to DOCG status (the highest-level Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita) in 2005.
The Antica Tenuta del Nanfro is named for its tiny località near Caltagirone, one of the many picturesque and historic towns dotting the rolling hills of southeast Sicily. Its owners, the Lo Certo family, are pioneering practitioners of organic viticulture in Sicily, having first obtained certification for their 37 hectares of vines in 1998. They helped pave the way for new-generation natural winemakers such as Arianna Occhipinti, the young superstar in Vittoria whose own Frappato has become perhaps the best-known bottling of any in the market.
The soils throughout the Vittoria DOC are sandy, stony clays with some limestone, and the Lo Celsos draw on 30-40-year-old Frappato vines for today’s wine, which, if you’re expecting a big, inky, ‘hot-climate’ red given its place of origin, will surprise and intrigue you: Aged for about six months in concrete tanks and another four months in bottle before release, Nanfro’s ’17 is a brambly, tangy, and floral—full of the kind of lift and finesse you might associate with Burgundy or other cooler-climate locales. Such is the unique physiology of Frappato that it produces this brambly, strawberry-scented sprite of a wine. “Charming” really is the best word! (I have the best words!)
In the glass, the wine shines a bright cherry-red with hints of pink and orange, with a fruit-basket of aromas including concentrated wild strawberries, red currants, black cherries, raspberries, rose petals, warm spice, and underbrush. It is light-bodied and refreshing, with bright acid but very soft tannins and modest alcohol—a chillable, food-friendly red of the highest order, right up there with our favorite Cru Beaujolais red from villages like Fleurie. Pull the cork on a bottle now (with another one close at hand) and serve it in Burgundy stems with tomato-sauced pastas, sausage pizza, or even a spicy, Sicilian-style seafood
brodetto. Or just enjoy a bottle on its own as an apéritif while its aromas fill the room around you. This wine is poised to be your new ‘daily drinker,’ believe me—at this price especially, it’s a no-brainer. Enjoy!
