07 Aug COS Winery: Giving natural wine a good name

The term “natural wine” can conjure up many strong reactions, and many of them are not positive. While natural wines can show the diverse personality of a wine, others think of natural wines as full of faults or an excuse for poor winemaking. It is time to stop thinking about natural wine as the “sulfite-free” wines sold at Trader Joe’s. While there is no certification or accreditation to qualify natural wine, it is about encouraging a return to the vineyard and away from processing and manipulation. COS winery in Sicily is a producer of natural wines, but they did not begin out that way. COS was started by three school friends, Giambattista Cilia (C), Giusto Occhipinti (O) and Cirino Strano (S). When they began in 1980, they wanted to make wine for their own enjoyment. They became the youngest winemakers in Italy when they bought Joseph Cilia’s old family winery. But, they also continued their university studies between 1983 and 1985, at which point Cirino Strano decided to become a doctor and left the wine business. Read the complete story at Napa Valley Register.