Occhipinti SP68 Bianco Terre Siciliane 2024

Arianna Occhipinti is basically the reason people stopped sleeping on Sicilian wine. In a place that was all about bulk and blending, she showed up farming organically before it was cool and started making bottles that actually taste like something. Like, really taste like something.

SP68 is just the name of the country road that runs past her vineyards. That's it. But somehow it became the name of her most famous wine, which feels right because this wine is about as straightforward and honest as a road. It's a blend of Zibibbo and Albanello from 20-year-old vines on Vittoria's chalky red soils. She leaves it on the skins for two weeks in concrete, lets it hang out for six months, bottles it unfiltered. Done.

It's round and fresh at the same time, which shouldn't make sense but does. Crushed nectarine, wild fennel, a little ginger. Then this whole wet concrete, salty mineral thing takes over. The finish goes on forever with green melon and lime. It's the kind of wine that makes you want to cook something from Sicily just to have an excuse to keep drinking it.

Pasta con le sarde. Grilled swordfish with capers.