Between us, we here at Coeur have been searching for killer frappato for a long time – privately, we’ve called it our “white whale,” and “victory condition,” but until now, we never could find exactly what we were looking for. Fast forward to a raucous dinner in Scicli this spring, when, we, somewhere towards midnight, found exactly what we were looking for in a bottle of Vin B. It’s not just that they were the best wines we drank that night, but we universally decided they were also the most fun and joyful, too. As such, we’re over the moon to be able to introduce their wines to the USA.

Vin B is the product of two Vittoria locals from winemaking families, Biagio Distefano, who spent 8 years as a sommelier in London, and Vittorio D’Angelo, who spent 10 years in Turin working as a programmer and moonlighting in restaurants. Vittorio, after a chance meeting with Ariana Occhipinti in 2018, decided to come back home and work in her cellar, while Biagio just got homesick in grey London and fled home for a job working for COS. The two met shortly after returning to the island and began laying the groundwork for their own project, which Biaggio relates as “ a lot like falling in love.” Their first vintage, which they describe as miserable – “they’re all miserable now!” quipped Biagio – as climate change wreaks havoc on their island, was all pulled from a .8ha vineyard they rented, and, difficulty aside, served as a calling card and proof of concept, allowing the two to start cobbling together vineyards.

Vin B’s territory is as gifted as you can imagine for making lifted and driving red wines and whites of uncommon saltiness - nearly pure limestone with isolated sandstone pockets, well-wamed by Mediterranean sun. As of right now, their holdings comprise a collection of rented parcels and purchased fruit, all vinified in Vittorio’s grandfather’s cellar. Befitting their small-fish status, quite a lot of the fruit sources shift around each year, but the ethos isn’t up for negotiation. Farming is always organic, leaning into regenerative and biodynamic practices, with an eye towards cutting inputs to the bone and keeping the vineyards pristine to combat the endemic fire risks in their territory. The duo have also been acquiring and planting their own vineyards as well, and intend to transfer entirely to estate fruit in the next five years, and will be the first members of their families to bottle their own wines. Currently, Vin B farms 5ha of vines, up from 3.8ha in the 2024 vintage, with more coming on line soon. Of particular note is a small .5ha plot of grillo on quartz that the two just planted and which the two cannot wait to vinify in a few years, and a hectare or so of Zibbibo going into the ground this spring.


While it’s still too early to speak to the pair’s house style, what’s most apparent is their agility and flexibility, as they deal with both fruit source changes and the wildly swinging weather in an incredibly tight cellar (they max out at 12000 bottles currently). Because of their blessed geography, Vin B’s main objective is to get out of the way of their fruit and allow it to make beautiful wine, which means very little manipulation occurs in cellar – for their current release, for example, all of the wines have less than 10ppm SO2, total, stemming from a single miniscule addition before bottling. In deference to the high heat and near-drought conditions of 2024, vinifications were adjusted to be as delicate as possible. Macerations, never long in the best of years, were cut to the bone, but even still, Vittoro mentions direct press frappato looking bright red. “We’re very blessed in phenolics,” Biagio told us over zoom, mentioning that, for the pair, “gentle is the byword.”