Whether you ask them about it or not, if you find yourself willingly speaking to any wine professional, they will happily wax poetic about their “aha!” moment in wine. The bottle that did it for me was a 2005 COS Frappato. Wax on sentence warning → Within my glass was a revelation comparable only to the spaces previously occupied by my favorite books, pieces of music and works of art. Ok time to wax off.     

Although I’m clearly biased, the 2021 vintage is one of the best COS Frappato bottlings of the past decade. With a focus on freshness and lively acidity, this is a wine meant to be consumed young. True to the varietal, this wine is highly fragrant with fresh strawberries and floral notes leaving behind a small trail of dried savory herbs and white pepper. The texture is at once light-hearted and juicy, with an elegant silky concentration that finishes crisp and refreshing - terms normally associated with white and rosé wines. While the appealing charm and balance are present in every vintage, the seductive aromatics are off the charts for 2021 and reminiscent of the perfume that first lured me into the wine world.       

 An early practitioner of organic and biodynamic farming methods, COS continues to be the benchmark producer in the Vittoria region. They have been quietly crafting some of Italy’s most exciting wines for nearly 40 years, a trend that appears to have no end in sight.