£8.99 (on current offer), Waitrose
There are quite a lot of red wines that you can drink lightly chilled if you want to and there's a smaller number that you really shouldn't drink any other way. Frappato is one of them, unless it's blended with its Sicilian compatriot Nero d'Avola, in which case you can often go either way.
In the past, most Frappato grapes ended up in blends, not least in Sicily's only DOCG wine, Cerasuolo di Vittoria, but there's been growing interest in it as a standalone variety from producers and wine drinkers alike, including younger Italians in the north.
It's not difficult to see why. Frappato is a variety that fits with the current mood for fresher, lighter, elegantly fruity, low-tannin reds. It's delightful, distinctive strawberry aroma comes with a pinch of peppery spice and Rina Russa 2022 throws in some raspberry and sea-breeze minerality too.
It may be easy to drink but it's not easy to grow and doesn't like to travel. Stefano Girelli of Santa Tresa says the grapes ripen quite late and have to be picked at exactly the right moment when the skins are thin, there's a little bit of colour in the flesh and the seeds are no longer bitter.
He should know. In the 20-plus years that he's owned Santa Tresa, a sustainable, organic estate on terra rossa soils in Frappato's birthplace and heartland around the town of Vittoria, southeast Sicily, he has been experimenting with different clones and has developed one that's specific to the estate.
Frappato is a red wine you can enjoy without food, but it goes very well with fish, especially tuna, swordfish and salmon. It also goes with two quite tricky to pair Sicilian dishes, sarde a beccafico and caponata, and with roast Mediterranean vegetables, tomatoey pasta, Portugal's pork and clam stews and herby or peppery roast chicken. 13.5%. Empty bottle weight: 411g.
Santa Tresa Rina Russa Frappato, 2022, Terre Siciliane, Sicily, Italy
£8.99 until 1 August, then £10.99, Waitrose; other retailers have previous vintages
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