COS Winery

COS was founded in 1980 by three friends, Giambattista Cilia, Giusto Occhipinti and Cirino Strano - the name COS coming from the first letters of their surnames - and at the time they were the youngest wine producers in Italy. From the beginning the biodynamic approach was embraced along with the refusal to follow trends but to build upon and improve a style and concept of wine that had existed for millennia.

From the outset the style of COS was unique and the quality of the fruit and winemaking shone through. The quality of their Cerasuolo di Vittoria red wine was key in that area becoming the first, and still only, DOCG (essentially a recognised top wine region) in Sicily. The fact that their wines have been recognised as they have is all the more impressive considering the way they have gone about things. They have not made lives easy for themselves. From the aforementioned biodynamic approach to making wines almost like the ancient Greeks did - in terracotta amphora. They use amphorae for vinification as they are neutral and do not impart flavour traces or aromas on the wine. For maturation some wines, like the Pithos Bianco are also aged in amphora, while others, like their Cerasuolo di Vittoria are aged in Slavonian oak barrels.

A real stand-out winery, not just because of the way they do things, but also because of the uncompromising approach to their style of wine and the quality of it.