COS Rami 2020 (skin contact)

2020  COS Ramí Bianco Terre di Siciliane

Vittoria, Sicily

Grapes: Grecanico, Insolia

2 weeks of skin contact and aged for 9 months in concrete vats

Citrus, herbal / some tannins / great saline finish 

Vittoria region of Sicily 

Landmark producer. CA producer Martha Stoumen worked at COS before diving into her own lauded production.

DAME WINE CLUB PICK

PARTY PEOPLE SEPTEMBER 2023

 I did not grow up in a wine drinking family and it was just not in my orbit until my early thirties. It was such an opaque world and seemingly out of reach. So, when I was invited to a dinner with a bunch of women in the wine world, I remember being so nervous and unsure what bottle to bring. I landed at Liner & Elsen and perused the bottles for a very long time. Researching on the world wide webs, asking questions about farming practices, and picking their brains about the notes of a couple wines I had narrowed it down to. I ended up bringing a bottle of COS skin contact wine and it by far was the highlight of the wine line up that evening. Big relief to this intimidated newbie. Over the years, I’ve become much more trusting of my palate and am thrilled to share this wine with you.

Now, at Dame, when we think of benchmark Sicilian wineries, COS is often the first that comes to mind. Located in Vittoria their reds are complex and bright (often compared to Cru Beaujolais), and their white and skin contact wines are known for stunningly showcasing Sicily’s volcanic terroir.

 COS is an acronym of the last names of the three founding winemakers Giambattista Cilia, Giusto Occhipinti, and Cirino Strano. The three formed the winery in 1980 with the mission of revitalizing wine growing in the region and to do it in a way that would nod to the ancestral way of making wine and protect their precious terroir for generations to come.  Their commitment to the land led them to working their vineyards organically and biodynamically, and their passion and mentoring practices led to a new generation of young Sicilian winemakers who adopted natural winemaking principles (You may be familiar with Gusto Occhipinti’s niece, Ariana Occhipinti, now a famous winemaker in her own right).

Ramí is the sort of skin-contact white wine that launched the ‘orange wine’ revolution as winemakers all over the world discovered COS’s deft touch with the Ramí bottling. With under two weeks of skin contact (and fermented in concrete), Ramí is a fresher style of orange wine. It jumps out of the glass with aromas of citrus, stone fruit, and a hint of marzipan. And on the palate it manages to be juicy and savory at the same time with notes of dried herbs and flowers and a touch of smoke and saline. Grapes grown on limestone get me every time.