2015 Valle dell'Acate Il Frappato Vittoria Frappato Sicilia 750 ml

Sicily’s Slam-Dunk Italian Red — at a Double-Take Price

In previous offers we had to issue a caveat when talking about Sicilian wines. An unfortunate history had to be accounted for: Through the mid-’80s, the island churned out oceans of cheap, dry wines and sloppily made sweet and fortified wines. Nearly every drop that made it into the export market was produced by local cooperatives, all of which emphasized quantity over quality.

Today, no such caveat is necessary. Critics from Eric Asimov to Robert Parker are over the moon about the bottles coming out of the sun-kissed toe of Italy’s boot, with Asimov naming Sicily “one of the most exciting wine regions in the world.” Older generations of winemakers had tried to cleave to the demands of the international wine market, turning out truckloads of mediocre Chardonnay, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon. Today’s standout Sicilian wines are produced by a young class of winemakers, largely populated by women who have inherited family businesses. Specializing in the island’s indigenous grapes, they are making dynamite reds, powerful yet light on their feet, showing tremendous finesse and indescribable aromatic complexity.

Valle dell’Acate, located at the southeastern tip of Sicily, is at the top of that class. “An important, historic estate owned by the Jacono and Ferreri families and led brilliantly today by Gaetana Jacono and Francesco Ferreri, Valle dell’Acate has gone from strength to strength over the years,” raved Vinous last month. The winery is situated on one of the arid, alluvial terraces carved by the Acate River, its vineyards featuring mesoclimates characterized by proximity to the coast, about 12 miles away, and difficult stony soil. In recent years, Gaetana and her staff carried out a comprehensive zonation study that allowed them to precisely pair grape varietals to the parcels with the best soils for growth, resulting in pitch-perfect expressions.

Thanks to these efforts, in 2015 Valle dell’Acate crafted Sicily’s finest Frappato — and one of the greatest Italian red bargains since the start of the Sicilian renaissance. The Frappato grape is frequently used in Cerasuolo blends for its lively fruit and wonderfully floral character, but on its own, few other reds can match it for freshness, delicacy, and sheer drinkability. Valle dell’Acate grows their Frappato in a vineyard well over 300 feet above sea level, where the black soil is strewn with white pebbles. Thanks to this soil structure, vines can push deep into the land to the clay-and-sandstone strata, oxygenating easily and resulting in the wine’s beautifully perfumed nose and exquisite acidity. Following the cold, rainy harvest of 2014, 2015 was a banner year, coming in bright and warm and delivering a well-timed dose of precipitation and cool weather in August. Berries were small, skins thick, sugars high, and tannins beautifully ripe.

Vinous went wild for this wine, calling it a “knockout wine … delivering terrific cut and clarity” and pouring on 93 points — the vintage’s highest score awarded to a Sicilian red under $20.

The 2015 Valle dell’Acate Il Frappato is dark ruby in color. Beautifully perfumed, complicated by a floral mix of red fruit, white flowers, dried herbs, and anise. Lushly infused with juicy red berries and cherries, sweet herbs, and spice. The attack is opulent, packed with sleek red-fruit preserves, silken in texture. Excellent vibrant finish, bracketed with dusty tannins. This is a tremendous effort from Valle dell’Acate, a bottle that argues for carving out a corner of your cellar for one of the most inspired reds of Sicily.

93 points from Antonio Galloni’s Vinous. With just 300 bottles earmarked for WineAccess, there’s no sense piling on the adjectives.