WTI Magazine #52    2015 January, 23
Author : Jennifer Gentile Martin      Translation by:

Grillo, from Sicily, is a grape that has always been understood for its contributions in the fortified wine, marsala. Marsala is not just the fortified wine, but is also a town located in western Italy. Most of the Grillo grapes are used in production for the gold, oro,or amber, ambra, level of marsala wines.

Over the years Grillo, also known as riddu, has been making its way to being produced more as a still wine either blended with other grapes or being able to express itself as it was in the wine I sampled.

The struggle with this grape producing a still wine is that in Sicily the sun beating down and the hot days that they get during their winemaking season will ripen those grapes and could even over-ripen them, hence why it's always been successful in producing the fortified marsala wines.

Luckily they have sea breezes blowing in, but it's important when making this wine to express it's nuances on its own and harvest it before it gets to that point.

I sampled the 2011 Grillo from producer Tola. It is made of 100% grillo. The Tola family has been making wine for three generations. This grillo was soft pressed and fermented in stainless steel. On the palate it shows citrus with the lemon shining through, combined with some ripe pineapple and fresh acidity. It's good to pair it with chicken or fish that has a lemon or cream based sauce.