COS, Rami Bianco 2021 Reserve Wines

Get to know: COS, Rami Bianco

Tasting Note

A refreshing and characterful Sicilian white wine made from a blend of organically grown Grecanico and insolia grapes. The wine shines with a brilliant yellow hue in the glass and with aromas of ripe peach, lemon zest and wildflowers. On the refreshing palate, it is crisp, clean and really well balanced with a long finish that is at once fruity and mineral-driven. A true expression of the Mediterranean terroir!

Try this with seafood or creamy pasta dishes.

Producer Info

Three friends founded Azienda Agricola COS, in 1980: Giambattista Cilia, Cirino Strano and Giusto Occhipinti. The acronym of their last names is where the name for the winery – COS – comes from.

In 1980, they were the youngest wine producers in Italy. They received an old family winery from Giambattista Cilia’s father Giuseppe Cilia and the nearby vineyard of bush trained vines in the famed town of Bastonaca. On October 5 that year, they harvested their first vintage and made 1,470 bottles. COS began its adventure that would one day lead to the transformation of Cerasuolo di Vittoria. The winery follows the principles of biodynamic faming in order to help the vines find and maintain a balance with nature in order to be able to express their true character and that of their terroir. For vinification, they decided to use terracotta vases that left no traces or aromas on the wine but were completely neutral vessels.

In 2000, Pithos was born, a Cerasuolo di Vittoria that ferments and ages in amphora. They finished working on a building in Fontane, which in 2003 became the headquarters of the winery. In 2005, they made the first wine that bore the Denominazione d’Origine Controllata e Garantita (D.O.C.G.) designation, the only one at the time in Sicily. The harvest of 2007 saw the winery in a new location and was the beginning of use of only amphora.

The winery got rid of the barrels that they had and use only 150 amphoras’, one of the largest of its kind. Today COS is associated not only with the success of Cerasuolo di Vittoria but also with rigor and quality. It’s thanks to these three friends that the region of Cerasuolo di Vittoria was reborn and the area around Vittoria is thriving with its extraordinary wines.

Average age of vines in production is 12 years. Grapes are harvesting by hand in September and the bunches undergo spontaneous fermentation on the skins with indigenous yeasts before aging in concrete tanks and bottle.

Grecanico 50%, Insolia 50%.