100% Zibibbo. Featured on the label of both De Bartoli passitos, the word Bukkuram is key to understanding both wines. It is Arabic for "father of the vineyard" and was the original name of this historical district on the island of Pantelleria to which North African settlers brought Zibibbo (aka...

100% Frappato. From organically farmed, hand-harvested vines on a flat, sandy site in the contrada of Bastonaca in the DOC of Vittoria. The grapes are destemmed, crushed and fermented with indigenous yeasts in large concrete and steel tanks. The wine is aged for approximately 6 months in tank and...

50% Frappato/50% Nero d'Avola. Grotte Alte is Arianna's only DOCG wine, in this case Vittoria's most famous, Cerasuolo di Vittoria, a blend of the best native varietals, Nero d'Avola and Frappato. "Grotte Alte" is named for the limestone ridges on which the Occhipinti estate lies, straddling and...

100% Zibibbo. De Bartoli was the first to bottle a dry-fermented Zibibbo on the island of Pantelleria, where the hot climate and history bred a tradition of sweet, dried-grape-based wine. Marco began with the latter in the 1980's, acquiring a 3-hectare plot of Zibibbo vines planted in 1957 on north...

100% Grillo. The 10-Year Riserva comes from the same solera system as the Vecchio Samperi (see notes on this website) whose average age is 15 years old: it is the fortification of the 10-Year that brings the ageof this wine downward a bit, raises the alcohol level by 2 degrees to 18.5% and...

100% Grillo. The Superiore 1987 is the top of the 3-wine line of Marsalas that starts with the La Miccia 5-Year and continues with the 10-Year Riserva. It is essentially a longer-aged, more oxidatively aged version of the 10-Year. As with all of De Bartoli's Marsala-style wines, the only grape used...

100% Nero d'Avola. From organically farmed, hand-harvested vines on a flat, sandy site in the contrada of Bastonaca in the DOC of Vittoria. The grapes are destemmed, crushed and fermented with indigenous yeasts in large concrete and steel tanks, with about a week of maceration. The wine is aged for...

90% Nerello Mascalese/10% other local varieties (both red and white). Pirrera is a single site at the very high altitude of 850 meters on the north side of Mt. Etna; the name Pirrera is rooted in the particularly rocky nature of the vineyard, stemming from the volcanic stones quarried from a 1614...

100% Pignatello. De Bartoli makes only one red wine. Initially, Marco made it from Merlot and Cabernet, commonly planted international varieties which swept Sicily in the 1980's; his doctor recommended he drink red for his health et voilà. But in keeping with his and the family's commitment to all...

50% Zibibbo/50% Grillo. This dry white combines Grillo from De Bartoli vines in Samperi (Marsala) and Zibibbo from their vines on the island of Pantelleria. The Grillo vines are about 20 years old and single-Guyot-grown on the limestone-rich sandy loam and flat land typical of the area with a yield...

70% Frappato/30% Nero d'Avola. The two varietals are native to Sicily and are grown on red sand soils over limestone rock, with vines averaging 15 years old on four different sites. The vines are organically farmed and hand-harvested. The fruit is mainly destemmed (4% stem inclusion in the upcoming...

100% Grillo. Vecchio Samperi was Marco De Bartoli’s first wine, first commercially released in 1980. It was his homage to the oldest form of marsala wine. Called stravecchio, this original style was made by the perpetuo method, in other words a solera system. and without fortification (a technique...

85% Nerello Mascalese/15% other. Versante Nord, both the Bianco and this Rosso, comes from 6 parcels totalling less than 2 hectares on the cooler, north-facing side of Mt. Etna (hence the wine's name at elevations ranging from 750 to 950 meters. In traditional style, he vineyards are mixed...