Poggio di Bortolone Frappato Vittoria 2024

Azienda Agricola Poggio di Bortolone was founded by the Cosenza Family at the end of the 18th century, immediately after Sicily’s transition out of feudalism and the annexation by mainland Italy. Since then it has been passed down from father to son and today, the 7th generation Pierluigi Cosenza, son of Ignatius, is the current owner and manager of the Poggio di Bortolone Estate. While embracing the long established family traditions, he is introducing fresh and innovative ideas to build on the successes of the past. The land has been used for the cultivation of vines,, olives and wheat for many centuries and today the winery's ancient wooden press and traditonal oil mill are to be found among the relics of bygone days to remind visitors of the proud origins of the Estate. The old and now redundant limestone watermill beside the river Para Para is being lovingly restored to its former splendor and is yet another reminder of past traditions which continued right up until the end of World War II. 

This is a bright, clean, effusive, classic Frappato. From a southwest-sloping parcel at roughly 260 m on Vittoria’s archetypal sabbie rosse—iron-rich red sands over porous marine limestone—this Frappato translates its site right into glass with striking clarity. Pierluigi Cosenza brings the fruit in cool and intact for a native ferment at 18–20 °C over more than 18 days, followed by complete malolactic and three months’ quiet refinement in stainless steel, then two months in bottle. The result is a very light ruby wine with a kaleidoscope of red-berry aromatics—cherry, raspberry, blueberry, even a flicker of blackberry—lifted by the saline snap of the underlying limestone. On the palate it’s lively and fresh, with subtle, ongoing red-berry flavors and moderate, fine-grained tannins.

All of the details of Vittoria’s sandy soils and marine influence come through: this is a pure, transparent Frappato that captures the cool-salt tension of its coastal plateau. The estate’s vineyards unfold across the Hyblaean foothills in southeastern Sicily, a gently undulating landscape once traversed by rivers and maritime currents. Soils here are the celebrated sabbie rosse—iron-rich red sands over porous marine limestone—interspersed with skeletal alluvium along ancient riverbeds. These quick-draining, nutrient-poor soils naturally limit yields and promote deep root systems, while proximity to the Mediterranean moderates the hot Sicilian sun, producing dramatic day–night temperature swings that help lock in acidity and aromatic definition.

Through generations, the Cosenza family has treated this landscape less as a commodity and more as a cultural inheritance. Farming is low-intervention and organic-leaning, preserving the native microbiome of the sandy soils. In the cellar, Pierluigi Cosenza works with spontaneous fermentations and restrained oak, letting the geological story of Vittoria speak clearly. The result is a range of wines—anchored by Frappato and Cerasuolo di Vittoria Classico—that express the meeting of iron-rich sands, marine fossils, and Mediterranean light with remarkable precision.