List of products by producer Azienda Agricola COS

Three friends founded Azienda Agricola COS, in 1980: Giambattista Cilia, Giusto Occhipinti, Cirino Strano. The acronym of their last names is where the name for the winery – COS – comes from.

In 1980, they were the youngest wine producers in Italy. They received an old family winery from Giambattista Cilia’s father Giuseppe Cilia and the nearby vineyard of bush trained vines, a total of 3.60.40 hectares in the famed town of Bastonaca. On October 5, 1980, they harvested their first vintage and made 1,470 bottles. COS began its adventure that would one day lead to the transformation of Cerasuolo di Vittoria. The winery follows the principles of biodynamic faming to help the vines find and maintain a balance with nature to be able to express their true character and that of their terroir. For vinification, they decided to use terracotta vases that left no traces or aromas on the wine but were completely neutral vessels. In 2000, Pithos was born, a Cerasuolo di Vittoria that ferments and ages in amphora. They finished working on a building in Fontane, which in 2003 became the headquarters of the winery. In 2005, they made the first wine that bore the Denominazione d’Origine Controllata e Garantita (D.O.C.G.) designation, the only one in Sicily. The harvest of 2007 saw the winery in a new location and was the beginning of use of only amphora. The winery got rid of the barrels that they had and use only 150 amphoras’, one of the largest of its kind. Today COS is associated not only with the success of Cerasuolo di Vittoria but also with rigor and quality. It’s thanks to these three friends that the region of Cerasuolo di Vittoria was reborn and the area around Vittoria is thriving with its extraordinary wines.

The terroir
They are at the farthest tip of southeastern Sicily.The taste of Africa jumps out at you not just from the various architectural ruins but also more importantly from the vegetation: olive, carob and almond trees and vines abound. The climate as well recalls Africa with its red, ochre, and yellow tones.

Here you find the city of Vittoria, in the province of Ragusa. A city located between the Ippari and Dirillo rivers that flow from the Hyblaean Mountains to the the Mediterranean Sea. The climate in Azienda Agricola Cos vineyards is more temperate than what you traditionally find in the hills of Ragusa. They are higher in altitude which gives them a milder climate than that of the Hyblaean Mountains, decidedly Mediterranean. This factor notably influenced the cultivation of specific crops in the Vittoria area and the plateau of Comiso. The area has particularly fertile soil and has been sought after by nearby peoples for centuries. Whoever conquered these lands throughout history then became enthralled with its riches and have all left traces of their civilizations and cultivation techniques behind. These ancient techniques are as old as the history of wine in this region.

The Azienda Agricola COS works with biodynamic principals of agriculture, a method that is based on the philosopher Rudolf Steiner’s teachings. These teachings incorporate the ideas of organic agriculture while at the same time they use a holistic approach that considers the earth and the vine to be part of wine system that develops together. With this philosophy in mind, the COS winery works using our ancient traditional techniques to cultivate their vines. Biodynamic agricultural farming means respect for what nature offers and not looking to ask for more than what is available. For this reason, as well, they have a project to use the water from their winery and to compost the material we have from pruning. Their compost uses neither chemicals nor artificial ingredients.