Arianna Occhipinti. You’re not going to forget that name. Iconoclast, wine prodigy, natural wine pioneer, twenty-six year old beauty. Arianna bottled her first vintage when she was 21 years old. At the time, she had just one hectare of land in Sicily. Now in her mid-twenties, Arianna’s up to about 10 hectares (25 acres), and her wines – distinct, unusual, terroir-tapping beauties (like their mom) – have become world famous. The proof is in the placement. Every hot little natural wine bar in Paris wants to sell this Sicilian wines. They’re on the list at Terroir in San Francisco, where they’re kept company by wines from Thierry Puzelat and Marcel Lapierre. Richard Betts recommends them frequently, Rajat Parr featured them on the list at RN74 alone with the likes of Domaine Gramenon and Maxime Magnon. For most young winemakers, that would be some heady stuff. I’m not sure it is for Arianna Occhipinti. I’ve never met her, but she’s a friend of a friend (yet another Sommelier). After confessing his burning, not-so-secret love for Arianna, my friend confessed that she wasn’t affected by her rocketing notoriety. Occhipinti wants to let her vineyards make great wine, she wants to make some really good olive oil, and she wants to share both over dinner with good people. In a recent interview with the website Find.Eat.Drink Arianna was asked if a particular market or particular consumer profile played exerted influence on her winemaking. Her response should be emblazoned on the front of a t-shirt for wine geeks: “I think wine is supposed to reflect where it comes from, not where it’s going to.” There are a lot of talented winemakers in the world – and too many of them bend to the will of their marketing departments and twist their wines to suit the so-called “American palette” and the 100-point hegemony. I wonder how they feel when they read those words, or when they taste Arianna’s wines. Perhaps she’ll inspire some new thinking among the old guard.

From a region where typificity is often obscured by the need to bottle cheap, super-ripe, high alcohol wines, Occhipinti manages to produce this fruity, juicy, lithe blend of indigenous varietals. Named after a busy road that runs right through Vittoria, the SP68 is a pleasure to drink, and drink, and drink… The nose is fun – a sort of fruit cocktail. The aromatics – wild strawberries, raspberries, and sour red cherry – are braced by a sleek streak of acidity. There’s a nice little bite of mint in there too. I love seeing a new wave of winemakers opting to explore indigenous grape varieties over international varieties. Occhipinti – like her uncle Giusto at the edgy Sicilian winery COS – sticks to Nero d’Avola and Frappato. This wine is a blend of both. Intentional or not, for me it’s a nod to the drinkability of village Beaujolais – simple and delicious, totally lacking in pretense.

Sicilia IGT ‘SP68′ Nero d’Avola/Frappato,  Arianna Occhipinti, 2010 – $19.99

This here is what separates the men from the boys. Wait, that cliche doesn’t really apply anymore. Let’s try it again. This here is what makes Arianna Occhipinti a better winemaker than all but a handful of people. Il Frappato is the golden ring. It screams of terroir – of rosemary and burnt earth, of rose petals, smoke and rubber, of raspberry and strawberry compote and cranberry bogs and mint bunches. God, it’s just so bloody good. It was recently described as a “great thanksgiving wine”. Seriously, unless your reverence is reserved for great wine, selling this as bird-juice might be doing it a disservice. There’s no doubt that it’ll pair extremely well with some roasted fowl, but if this is your first bottle drink it on it’s own. It doesn’t need the competition. This is a wine of enormous depth and complexity. Give it a good spin or two around the glass, and make sure you hoover up all those vapors – an activity almost as pleasurable as drinking the wine.

Sicilia IGT ‘Il Frappato’ Frappato, Arianna Occhipinti, 2009 – $32.25

How does geography impact wine? Here’s a great study for you. Two bottlings of Frappato from the same region, and from the same great winemaker. Two totally distinct wines, despite being separated by, like, a goat path. Wines bearing the Tami label are made by Arianna Occhipinti using fruit she buys from one of her neighbors. She exerts the same minimalist stance in the winery, and the same obsessive oversight of the vineyard with these bottlings as she does with the wines that bear her name. That distance, though, changes everything. You’ll find a bit of the mint and earth here, but this wine is really more about youthful exuberance and chug-a-lug enjoyment. It’s vibrant, loaded with red cherry and raspberry, and juicy with acidity. Now this is a turkey wine. Pop it in the fridge for 15 or 20 minutes – drink it with a slight chill. But be wary – it’ll disappear pretty quickly.

Sicillia IGT Frappato, Tami (by Arianna Occhipinti), 2010 – $16.75