Frappato wine guide

Frappato is one of Sicily’s most important red grape varieties, so much so that it contributes with Nero d’Avola to creating the blend of Cerasuolo di Vittoria, the only DOCG of Sicilian enology.

Frappato is a splendid wine, the right fruity, elegant, rich, but not aromatic, powerful, but never strong and not as alcoholic as Sicilian fruity bombs often are. But above all, Frappato is a wine that hides an incredible finesse. The definition that describes it flawlessly is balsamic. You will feel the aromas and flavors of olives, rosemary, the Mediterranean scrub and especially the sea and eucalyptus.

Differences between Frappato and Nero d’Avola

It is not robust, warm and structured like Nero d’Avola. On the contrary, it seduces you with an austere air, with subtle features and lots of pulp. It is not fat or alcoholic at absurd levels, but in any case, we are in Sicily and the sun beats down and explodes the sugar levels in the grapes, so it is certainly not an easy vine to produce.

But all too often, Frappato is considered a third-place wine and we only talk about it after mentioning Nero d’Avola and Nerello Mascalese. And until a few years ago, few wineries produced Frappato in purity, but thanks to the efforts of farsighted Sicilian winemakers, Frappato is in full swing.

And the best is yet to come. Let’s be patient. Frappato is resurging right now. Because we tasted a lot of varietal Frappato and it was terrific. Small masterpieces. And these wines are delicious and should not end up in Cerasuolo di Vittoria, which in any case, it is clear, is one of the great Italian wines. But if we want to reverse the discussion, Cerasuolo is an imaginative wine thanks to the elegance and gracefulness that Frappato brings as a dowry.

The bouquet

The nose is a whirlwind of red fruits, spices, aromatic herbs, olives, roses, flowers, fennel, leaves and earthy notes and then the sea and the land of Sicily. It is as if it were a distillation of earth and sky. But don’t think of aromatic aggression with a reinforced cap. No, quite the opposite, it has the finesse to spare, texture, penetrating and pungent depth, but not arrogance.

What does Frappato wine taste like?

On the palate, it is juicy, sharp in acid-sapid development. It is not a bloodless wine. On the contrary, those who dare with the extraction can produce wines with a dense and greedy texture. The incision is austere with almond and orange flavors that blend with thick, multifaceted tannins, which do not lack grit. It is not an opulent wine, but elegance and finesse dominate the trait. The wine will be able to give new identity and lymph to Sicily, to demolish the banal preconception that wants to bottle Sicilian wine as a hyper-fruity, tannic and jam-like juice. We are light-years from the rude fruity euphoria of Nero d’Avola.

Production area of ​​the Frappato wine

Its cradle and natural habitat are the Ragusano area, in the southeast of Sicily, where we find it in the DOC Eloro and the superb DOCG Cerasuolo di Vittoria.

History of the Frappato grape

The most accredited theory is that of the native vine, born in Vittoria, but there are no sources in this regard. What is known is that the first citations appeared in 1600. Some tell of a possible Spanish ancestry of the vine. Still, it is the classic theory of the cultural invasion of the island by the Aragonese hand and until they find Spanish parents or relatives, let’s take for good the theory of the Sicilian birth.

Frappato food pairings

Frappato is a wine with character, acidic and “tannically” ready for battle, so the best combinations are those with meat dishes, pasta with ragu, moussaka, meat souvlaki, smoked ribs, hamburgers, a white pizza with scamorza and zucchini, pie fried with salami, veal with tuna sauce, Cantonese rice, sweet and sour pork, pad thai.