IGT White

COS Pithos Bianco

Azienda Agricola COS

Grape
Grecanico
Denomination
Terre Siciliane IGT
Region
Sicily
ABV
11.5%
Body
Light to medium
Drink
Now to 2030

The Vittoria estate that buried its first fermentation jars in 2000. COS leaves organic Grecanico on its skins for about seven months in clay: an orange wine of citrus peel, apricot, honey and almond in a light 11 to 12% frame.

Price
£29.30

2023 · 75cl · checked 22 Sep

Prices read daily from 3 UK retailers. We earn a commission on some links; it never changes the order.

Where to buy COS Pithos Bianco

£29.30 price · 1 retailer in stock · checked 22 Sep 2026

Stock is shown where the retailer publishes it, offers are sorted by price, and unavailable offers can’t be clicked.

Decantalo Best price 2023 · 75cl · checked 22 Sep
Read from the retailer's page once a day. Confidence is low, so treat it as a guide and confirm at the retailer.
£29.30 £39.07/L
Unavailable (2)
8wines Best price 2022 · 75cl · checked 15 Sep
Out of stock
£22.10 £29.47/L
Out of stock
Vinissimus Best price 2023 · 75cl · checked 22 Sep
Out of stock
£39.40 £52.53/L
Out of stock

Stock status is read from each retailer’s page once a day and may lag.

Tasting Notes

What COS Pithos Bianco tastes like

Grecanico left on its skins for about seven months in buried amphorae. Across 812 Vivino reviews the notes drinkers name most are orange peel, apricot, honey and stone.

Tasted by
ItalianWines editorial (drinker consensus)
Tasted on
23 August 2026
Source
Drinker consensus · confidence Medium
Taste profile
Body Light / Full
Tannins Smooth / Grippy
Sweetness Dry / Sweet
Acidity Soft / Crisp
Nose

Orange peel first, the note Vivino reviewers mention most, then apricot, white peach and a honeyed, stony undertone. Air brings chamomile and the green-olive edge noted on the 2022's retail sheet.

Orange peelOrange peel
ApricotApricot
White peachWhite peach
ChamomileChamomile
Wet stonesWet stones
AlmondAlmond
OliveOlive
HoneyHoney
Palate

Fuller than a standard white: seven months on skins in COS's buried jars leave a fine, tea-like grip. Ripe yellow fruit and toasted almond ride bright acidity, and the light 11.5% frame keeps it fresh, not heavy.

Finish

Dry and gently gripping, with orange peel and walnut lingering. No oak anywhere: the wine never sees wood.

Overall

One of the most popular orange wines on the market, made by the estate that buried its first clay jars in 2000. Vivino's 3,800 drinkers settle at 3.8: loved for character, marked down by those expecting a conventional white. Best within five or so years of the vintage.

Drink now Best by 2030
Live UK pricing

Where to find Pithos Bianco in the UK

Three UK-facing listings cover the 2022 and 2023 between £18 and £38. All showed out of stock at our last check, so move quickly when a bottle returns.

Best price · 75 cl £29.30 at Decantalo
Only sold by Decantalo The only UK shop we track for this wine, so there is no price to compare
Vintages live 2023 Current release: 2023
Per-litre (75 cl basis) £39.07 Per-litre price for the lowest current offer
Last checked 22 Sep 2026 Refreshed once every 24 hours
Wine fit score

How Pithos Bianco scores in practice

Six practical scores. Strong with food and as a talking point; low for beginners, because an amber, grippy white rewires expectations.

Best with food 8.5/10

A shape-shifter: skin grip for meat and aubergine, acidity for fish, amber fruit for spice. Callmewine's list runs risotto to white meat.

Best for an occasion 6.5/10

Not a trophy DOCG, but a guaranteed conversation piece: wine from buried clay jars, three founders' initials on the label, natural-wine royalty.

Best value 6.0/10

£18 to £38 for one of the most popular orange wines going, and the 2010 still sits in Vivino's top 5% of all wines: the track record outruns the price.

Best for cellar 5.5/10

No ageing mandate applies, but skin tannin and acidity carry it: Callmewine backs five-plus years and old vintages still rate highly.

Best everyday bottle 4.0/10

Light alcohol suits a weeknight, but pricing near £30 and a challenging style keep it an occasional pour.

Best intro to this style 2.0/10

Amber colour, gentle tannin and a wild, salty nose confound anyone expecting Pinot Grigio; taste it knowing it is an orange wine.

Scoring is rule-based and deterministic. The model and weightings are documented in our Wine Fit Score methodology.

Denomination Compliance Snapshot

Terre Siciliane in five fields

A compact view of what the Terre Siciliane denomination actually requires, and how this bottle sits inside it. Pulled from the official Italian disciplinare.

Allowed grapes
Variety list not yet recorded
This bottle: Grecanico.
Minimum ageing
Recorded by producer
Disciplinare ageing rule not yet recorded.
Region / area
Sicily
Style
IGT · Terre Siciliane
Classification
IGT (Indicazione Geografica Tipica)
Vintages

2022 and 2023: two light-framed years

Both current vintages rate 3.9 on Vivino. The 2022 carries 11.5% on its label; sheets for the 2023 range from 11 to 12%.

2023 Current release
Lowest price
£29.30
Retailers
1 in stock
Window
Drink now through 2030

Early Vivino ratings put 2023 level with 2022 at 3.9, a top-rated year for this label. A light vintage on paper: retailer sheets list it between 11 and 12% alcohol.

2022 Sold through
Lowest price
not listed
Retailers
0 in stock
ABV
11.5%
Window
Drink now through 2029

Seven months on its skins in clay, bottled with no wood. Vivino drinkers rate the 2022 at 3.9; drink it young and cool, or rest it: Callmewine backs over five years.

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.

The disciplinare, the place, the label

COS: three friends and their clay-jar revival

Giambattista Cilia, Giusto Occhipinti and Cirino Strano founded COS in Vittoria in 1980 and buried their first fermentation amphorae in 2000. Pithos Bianco is the white face of that project.

01

DOC, DOCG, IGT: what the badges mean

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.

Terre Siciliane is in the IGT tier. That is not a quality verdict, it is a description of how much freedom the producer has at vinification and ageing.

02

The denomination rules, in detail

  • Allowed grapes. Varieties not yet recorded
  • Tasting panel. No mandatory pre-release tasting
03

Region and area context

Terre Siciliane falls within Sicily.

The zone the estate stands in The producer

Made at Azienda Agricola COS, Vittoria. Directions

04

Reading the label

  • Azienda Agricola COSProducer / estate
  • GrecanicoGrape varieties
  • Terre Siciliane IGTGeographic indication and quality tier
  • 2023Vintage (year of harvest)
  • Producer-declared ABV · 75 clAlcohol by volume and bottle size
05

What sits behind the price of COS Pithos Bianco

Tracked from
£29.30
Direction
Mostly cost up
Drivers
4 up / 1 down
Main factor
Seven months in buried clay, not weeks in steel
  1. 01

    Seven months in buried clay, not weeks in steel

    Cost up

    Each vintage sits in 400-litre clay jars sunk into the cellar floor for six to seven months, tying up vessels and time that a stainless-steel white never needs.

  2. 02

    Organic, hand-worked vines at 5,000 per hectare

    Cost up

    COS farms Grecanico organically on Vittoria's red sands at 230 metres and picks by hand in September; low-intervention farming swaps chemicals for labour.

  3. 03

    Cult standing since their clay-jar revival

    Cost up

    Cilia, Occhipinti and Strano started COS in 1980 and buried their first pithoi in 2000; the name anchors natural-wine lists worldwide, and demand does the rest.

  4. 04

    UK duty and VAT

    Cost up

    Duty on an 11.5% bottle is £2.64 (£30.62 per litre of pure alcohol since February 2026); with 20% VAT, about £7.50 of the £29 UK price is tax.

  5. 05

    IGT freedom, no DOCG overheads

    Cost down

    Bottled as Terre Siciliane IGT, Pithos skips the tasting-panel and certification overheads of its Cerasuolo di Vittoria DOCG stablemate, which helps keep it under £40.

01

Seven months in buried clay, not weeks in steel

Cost up

Each vintage sits in 400-litre clay jars sunk into the cellar floor for six to seven months, tying up vessels and time that a stainless-steel white never needs.

Food Pairing

Food for an amber wine with grip

Callmewine's sheet runs from vegetable risotto to grilled fish and white meat. Time on skins lets it handle aubergine, spice and salt that flatten ordinary whites.

Aromatic bridge Strong match

Risotto, from pumpkin to squid ink

Callmewine's pairing list for this wine starts with risotto. The honeyed amber tone and stony edge wrap around creamy rice the way an oaked white would, but the skin grip keeps the finish clean.

Try with: Squid ink risotto · Pumpkin risotto · Porcini mushroom risotto · More pairings →

Body matching Strong match

Grilled fish and octopus, Sicilian style

Swordfish off the grill carries smoke and weight that flatten delicate whites. Pithos matches the weight, and its orange-peel bitterness does the job a squeeze of lemon usually does.

Try with: Pesce spada alla Siciliana · Polpo alla pignata · Impepata di cozze · More pairings →

Fat cutting Good match

Aubergine and vegetarian mains

Fried aubergine drinks oil, and parmigiana layers it with cheese. Skin tannin and acidity cut that richness while ripe amber fruit meets the tomato. Vivino files this wine's matches under vegetarian for good reason.

Try with: Eggplant parmesan · Insalata Caprese · Torta pasqualina · More pairings →

Acidity matching Good match

Roast chicken and other white meats

Callmewine lists white meat for this bottle. Crisp chicken skin wants freshness with some body behind it: the acidity scrubs the fat while the wine's golden fruit sits level with the roast notes.

Try with: Roast chicken · More pairings →

Salt balance Good match

Mezze, chickpeas and gentle spice

Sesame, chickpea and cumin sit in the savoury, salty band that flattens lean whites. Honeyed amber fruit and soft skin grip stand up to it, and Vivino's own match list for this wine includes appetisers.

Try with: Hummus · Falafel · More pairings →

Avoid Clash

Very hot chilli and sweet desserts

Chilli heat inflames even gentle skin tannin, and a bone-dry amber wine turns harsh next to real spice. Sugar is worse: dessert sweetness strips the fruit and leaves only grip. Pour a sweet Passito di Pantelleria with pudding and keep Pithos for the table.

Skip with: Vindaloo · Sweet and sour prawns · Tiramisu · Pairing guide →

Drinking + cellar

Keeping Pithos: five years and beyond

Not a mandate wine, but it lasts: Callmewine backs over five years, and the 2010 still sits in Vivino's top 5% of all wines. Serve at 12°C, cooler than its colour suggests.

Drinking window
2025 → 2030

Best in the years above; holds without falling over either side.

Decanting
no

A short splash decant softens the first-pour edge and opens the aromatics.

Cellar potential
Medium

No ageing mandate applies, but skin tannin and acidity carry it: Callmewine backs five-plus years and old vintages still rate highly.

Buy now or wait?
Buy now

£29.30 is the lowest tracked offer for the current vintage and we have no signal of further discounting.

Sources & trust

Sources behind this Pithos Bianco page

Prices & stock

Read directly from each retailer’s public product page once a day. Last refresh: 22 Sep 2026, 00:28 BST. We do not hold stock and we do not accept payment for placement.

Confidence · High
Tasting notes

Drawn 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 · Medium
Appellation rules & ageing

From the official Italian disciplinare for this denomination, cross-checked against the Ministry of Agriculture register.

Confidence · High
Why it costs what it costs

Our 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 · Medium
Drink window & cellar potential

Style guidance for this kind of wine at this price point. Treat it as advice, not a forecast for the bottle in your hand.

Confidence · Medium
Related

Pages connected to Pithos Bianco

Producer
Azienda Agricola COS Sicily
Denomination
Terre Siciliane IGT

Common Questions

Because the juice ferments with its own wild yeasts and stays on the grape skins for about seven months inside buried terracotta amphorae. Skin contact turns the wine deep gold and adds a gentle grip that whites made without skins do not have.

100% Grecanico, an old Sicilian white variety; DNA studies show it is the same grape as Garganega, the grape of Soave. COS grows it organically at 230 metres near Vittoria, and retailer sheets list the wine as vegan.

Expect orange peel, apricot and white peach, with honey, almond and a stony edge. It feels fuller than a normal white, yet the label strength is a light 11 to 12% and the acidity stays fresh.

Vegetable and seafood risotto, grilled fish and white meats are the retailer sheets' classic calls. Its gentle skin grip also handles aubergine dishes and spiced plates that flatten most whites.

Yes, within reason. Callmewine backs over five years in the cellar, and on Vivino the 2010 still sits in the top 5% of all wines. Acidity keeps the style alive.

The 2022 and 2023, between 18 and 38 pounds. All three current listings showed out of stock at our last check, so move quickly when a bottle returns.

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COS Pithos Bianco