Azienda Agricola COS
Sicily's only DOCG, from cult Vittoria estate COS: 60% Nero d'Avola, 40% Frappato grown organically on calcareous clay. Expect bright red cherry, dried violets and a savoury earth, with fine, soft tannins that suit tomato-led Sicilian cooking.
Drinker consensus across thousands of Vivino ratings, read against COS's organic, native-yeast winemaking: red cherry and wild strawberry, dried violet, and a savoury Sicilian earth. Light to medium bodied, with bright acidity and fine, soft tannins.
Red cherry, wild strawberry and raspberry lead, lifted by dried violet and a touch of rose, the floral, red-fruited signature of Frappato alongside Nero d'Avola. Behind the fruit sits a savoury Sicilian note of damp earth and Mediterranean scrub that COS's native-yeast, organic winemaking tends to show.
Violet
Cherry
Raspberry
Red forest berries
Strawberry
Tobacco
Wet stones
Forest FloorLight to medium bodied and bright, the fruit fleshy but not heavy. Acidity is fresh and the tannins fine and already supple, a mark of the Frappato component and the large neutral Slavonian casks used for the Nero d'Avola rather than new oak. Crushed-stone minerality and a tobacco edge run underneath the red fruit.
Clean and savoury, of medium length, closing on red cherry and dried herbs with a mineral, faintly earthy tail. There is no sweet oak frame: the large neutral Slavonian casks leave Vittoria's fruit and minerality to finish on their own terms.
COS's estate-grown Cerasuolo is the benchmark for Sicily's only DOCG: a fresh, food-friendly red that Vivino's crowd rates around 4.0 and critics have pushed into the low 90s. Drink it for the table now, or hold the best vintages eight to ten years.
Stocked here from about £26 to £33 across three retailers, all standard 750ml. COS makes limited quantities of this benchmark Vittoria red, so vintages rotate; the current market vintage is 2022, with some 2021 still around.
Our Italian Wine Fit Score rates this on six axes. It is strongest as a food wine: a low-tannin, high-acid Sicilian red built for the table rather than the trophy shelf.
Low-tannin, high-acidity Sicilian red from indigenous Nero d'Avola and Frappato: a versatile food wine that even bridges to seafood, so it sits at the top of the bright-acid red band.
A classic indigenous-grape expression at mid-tier DOCG level with soft tannins and clear red fruit, though its savoury, natural-wine character and £26-plus price temper pure beginner appeal.
Lowest live price around £26 sits modestly above the Cerasuolo di Vittoria DOCG median, fair for COS's benchmark quality; a price-to-category ratio near 1.0 to 1.15 scores in the 60s.
Sicily's only DOCG from a cult organic producer reads as a considered gift, though at around £30 it sits below trophy-bottle territory.
Scoring is rule-based and deterministic. The model and weightings are documented in our editorial methodology.
A compact view of what the Cerasuolo di Vittoria denomination actually requires, and how this bottle sits inside it. Pulled from the official Italian disciplinare.
Compare tracked offers from verified retailers at a glance. Stock is shown only where the retailer exposes it. Logos, sale pricing, and the strongest offer are surfaced first.
Two vintages sit side by side here. 2021 was a balanced south-east Sicilian year that earned 93 points from Wine Enthusiast; 2022 was hotter and drier, yet COS's calcareous-clay sites at about 250 metres kept the wine fresh and energetic.
2022 was a hot, dry Sicilian vintage, yet COS's calcareous-clay vineyards at around 250 metres held onto freshness, and drinkers rate it among the wine's best recent years. Fine, already-supple tannins make it approachable now.
A balanced south-east Sicilian growing season gave COS a classically poised Cerasuolo that earned 93 points from Wine Enthusiast. The 60/40 Nero d'Avola and Frappato blend is drinking well now and will hold into the early 2030s.
Drink-now / hold guidance reflects general style cues for this wine, not a forecast for a specific bottle. Where vintage-level editorial notes exist, they appear above.
Founded in 1980 in Vittoria by Cilia, Occhipinti and Strano, COS helped make the case for Sicily's only DOCG, granted in 2005. Forty years of organic, biodynamic work on estate vineyards stand behind this bottle.
Italian wine law sorts bottles into a pyramid. DOCG sits at the top: tightly drawn boundaries, prescribed grapes, mandatory ageing, government tasting before release. DOC is the same idea with looser thresholds. IGT (Indicazione Geografica Tipica) is broader still, requiring only that 85% of the grapes come from the named territory.
Cerasuolo di Vittoria is in the DOCG tier. That is not a quality verdict, it is a description of how much freedom the producer has at vinification and ageing.
Cerasuolo di Vittoria falls within Sicily , covering Ragusa · Caltanissetta · Catania.
Certified-organic estate fruit farmed biodynamically and picked by hand costs far more per hectare than bought-in conventional Sicilian grapes, lifting the base of this £26 to £33 wine.
COS holds the Nero d'Avola roughly 18 months in big Slavonian casks, then bottle-ages before release, tying up capital and cellar space for years before any sale.
Cerasuolo di Vittoria DOCG, granted in 2005, caps yields and requires an approval tasting before release, adding certification cost over an unregulated Sicilian red.
Global demand for COS outstrips its small production, so UK retailers price the wine above the median for comparable Cerasuolo di Vittoria bottles.
About £7.30 of a £28 UK shelf price is tax: £2.67 HMRC still-wine duty (under 15% ABV, 2026 rate) plus 20% VAT.
Land and grape prices around Vittoria sit well below Etna or mainland Italy's cult reds, keeping COS cheaper than comparably rated Barolo or Brunello.
Dishes that complement this wine
Bright acidity and soft, fine tannins make this a natural with tomato-led Sicilian cooking. The low tannin even lets it bridge to herb-baked seafood, where a more structured red would clash.
The wine's bright acidity meets the acidity in cooked tomato instead of fighting it, while soft, fine tannins stay out of the way of aubergine and ricotta salata. A classic regional match for Vittoria.
Try with: Pasta alla Norma · Pizza Margherita · Pizza Marinara · More pairings →
Fine, supple tannins and fresh acidity cut through the fat of a long-braised ragu and keep each forkful lively. The red fruit echoes the sweetness slow cooking draws from the meat.
Try with: Agnello Ragu Lucano · pork ragu · braised sausage ragu · More pairings →
The savoury, forest-floor and damp-earth notes in the wine bridge straight to porcini, so the pairing tastes of one idea rather than two. Light body keeps a delicate risotto in balance.
Try with: Porcini mushroom risotto · mushroom tagliatelle · More pairings →
Fresh acidity scrubs the palate clean after fried, breadcrumbed bites, while the wine's low tannin avoids any metallic clash with the fryer. A homestyle Vittoria pairing.
Try with: Arancini · panelle · sfincione · More pairings →
Very low tannin and red-fruited freshness let this red sit with herb-baked shellfish and meaty fish, a pairing most reds wreck. Match its light body to the dish, not a heavy sauce.
Try with: Cozze arraganate · grilled tuna · baked anchovies · More pairings →
Fierce chilli heat scorches this delicate, low-tannin red and flattens its red fruit, and the wine is no powerful, barrique-aged style if that is what a dish needs. For vindaloo or Sichuan heat, reach for a chilled Sicilian Zibibbo instead.
Skip with: vindaloo · Sichuan chilli oil · heavily oaked braises · Pairing guide →
Not a long-haul wine, but better built than entry-level Cerasuolo. The Slavonian-oak-aged Nero d'Avola carries it: drink from release, with the strongest vintages holding eight to ten years.
Peak around 2027. Best in the years above; holds without falling over either side.
Built to drink young but better structured than entry Cerasuolo; the Slavonian-oak Nero d'Avola component lets top vintages hold eight to ten years, a mid-range cellar score.
£21.03 is the lowest tracked offer for the current vintage and we have no signal of further discounting.
Read directly from each retailer’s public product page once a day. Last refresh: 7 Jun 2026, 14:28 BST. We do not hold stock and we do not accept payment for placement.
Confidence · HighDrawn from what drinkers consistently report on Vivino and Wine-Searcher, summarised in our own words. A crowd read across many tasters, not a single critic.
Confidence · MediumFrom the official Italian disciplinare for this denomination, cross-checked against the Ministry of Agriculture register.
Confidence · HighOur reading of the price, drawn from the disciplinare, public UK duty rates, and typical landed-cost benchmarks. Not a quote from the producer or a retailer.
Confidence · MediumStyle guidance for this kind of wine at this price point. Treat it as advice, not a forecast for the bottle in your hand.
Confidence · MediumIt is a blend of 60% Nero d'Avola and 40% Frappato, the two grapes the Cerasuolo di Vittoria disciplinare requires, grown on COS's organic estate vineyards around Vittoria in south-east Sicily.
Yes. Cerasuolo di Vittoria was recognised as a DOC in 1974 and promoted to DOCG in 2005, making it Sicily's sole DOCG. COS has worked with the wine since 1980.
The grapes are farmed organically and biodynamically, then fermented with native yeasts. The Nero d'Avola ages around 18 months in large Slavonian oak casks and the Frappato in cement, before bottle ageing.
Light to medium bodied, about 13% ABV, with red cherry, wild strawberry, dried violet and a savoury, earthy, mineral edge. Acidity is bright and the tannins are fine and soft.
Tomato-led Sicilian cooking such as pasta alla Norma, pizza and arancini. Its low tannin and fresh acidity even let it work with herb-baked seafood, where many reds clash.
It drinks well on release thanks to its soft tannins, but the best vintages hold eight to ten years. The 2022 in market now is approachable, with cellaring room to about 2032.
Azienda Agricola Cos
2 retailers
From
£23.18
Planeta
2 retailers
From
£18.07
Baroni Di Pianogrillo
Price TBC
Santa Tresa
Price TBC
Affiliate disclosure. Some links above are affiliate links. If you buy through them we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Editorial coverage, ratings and tasting notes are written independently and a retailer cannot pay to be listed or to be ranked higher.
How retailer prices are sourced.
Prices and stock are read from each retailer’s public product page once a day. Outbound buy links carry rel="nofollow sponsored noopener". The list is sorted by price; we do not accept payment for placement.
What we will never do. Imply we tasted a bottle when we didn’t. Imply stock when a retailer is out. Imply independence on links that are paid affiliate links.
Verified retailers
Price comparison
Updated daily
