We received a bottle of Il Frappato wine to review from the Valle dell’Acate winery in the southeaster part of Sicily. It was suggested that we chill the wine and enjoy on a hot summer day. We tend to drink more white and rosé wines during the heat of the summer; however, this red wine was delicious served cold. The wine was made from the Frappato grape, native to Sicily. We have had Sicilian wines before made with the red Nero d’Avola grape and the white Grillo grape; this was our first taste of a wine made with Frappato.The 2017 Il Frappato Vittoria Frappato DOC Sicily had a translucent dark red color with 13% alcohol. There were floral and red fruits on the aroma. The taste was reminiscent of violets, cherries, juicy black raspberries and baking spices. The medium bodied wine had mild tannins. The finish was crisp with fruit yielding to spices.
The Valle dell’Acate winery has a series of wines from the “7 Soils for 7 Wines” portfolio. This Frappato was made with grapes from the “black soil with white pebbles” vineyard. This vineyard is about 100 meters (328 feet) above sea level. The compact soil has a black color with white stones throughout. Grape vines are deep rooted.
Frappato and Food
We were interested in how this wine would match with summer foods. We discovered that on the Wines of Sicily website there are 101 recipes that are paired with different wines from Sicily. We chose the Horseradish Potato Salad with Dill recipe because potato salad is a go to dish during the summer heat. We paired the potato salad with Italian sausages grilled on the barbecue and the Il Frappato. The wine and the sausage were wonderful. The potato salad was a bit overwhelmed by the dill and horseradish until we drank some Il Frappato. The wine completely tamed the dill and horseradish in the potato salad bringing the potato salad into balance.
Some Experimenting
We like to experiment and decided to try this wine in a cocktail. To two ounces of Il Frappato we added two ounces of tonic water and a twist of lime. We headed to our back yard deck and tried this summer only cocktail while gently rocking on our chairs. Yum! The sweetness of the tonic water brought out some red raspberries and black sweet cherry aromas and tastes. The cocktail was perfect for the summer heat. The Il Frappato is a 3P wine. During the summer it is good on a porch, patio and next to a pool.
The wine retails for around $20 at several online sites.
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