Grillo wine guide
Grillo is the wine that now dominates “all white production” in the Trapani area, in western Sicily. The reason for the almost monopoly of the Grillo vine is very simple: it is a vine that gives good yields, it is resistant, it produces robust, very fragrant and intense wines, excellent for making Marsala, but also pleasant white wines for everyday.
If we leave Marsala aside and talk about unfortified wines, you will not find incredible bottles of Grillo, since large wineries produce very low yields with very high yields and small producers are few and struggle to market and make it clear how much the Grillo can be grandiloquent. Unfortunately, you will find a lot of washed-out Grillo around, an honest wine, a wine born to produce large quantities: we don’t want to beat Grillo, God forbid, we drank excellent aperitif wines in Trapani evening after evening, to combine with fish or even with white meats, but few were the stars.
You could drink Grillo every day and you will never tire because in reality, it is a wine capable of embodying the flavors and colors of Sicily. The ripe yellow pulp fruit, the salt, a delicate Mediterranean scrub, the algae, the gorse, the rocks and all the flowers of this splendid island you will find them in the Grillo. But its big problem is the structure, which is very bulky: the alcohol content is high and affects the fineness of the wine, the risk of a full-bodied fruity bomb is always around the corner.
The skin of the Grillo bunch is thick, so you have to make very precise stylistic choices: if you want to extract a minimum of maceration is needed, but the skins have many polyphenols, so the wine could give a lot in return: even tannins.
Add to all this that it tends to oxidize very easily, so that all delicate suggestions become more decadent, heavier and the wine loses its grace. In summary, we could say that Grillo is one of the most generous vines there is: it has so much material to offer, but it is difficult to shape all this concentration. Or rather, perhaps I expressed it badly: apart from some enlightened ones, small winemakers who produce 100% Grillo, preferring a clean and elegant style
But this does not mean that it does not mean that great wines cannot be made from Grillo, in fact all the characteristics that would normally be worrying are those that a Marsala must have. And it is for this reason that after the phylloxeric cataclysm of the late nineteenth century, Grillo was planted throughout the Trapani area, to the detriment of the good old Catarratto.
History of Grillo grape
We don’t know much about Grillo: the first reliable sources can be traced back to a quotation from 1951 by Rizzo, who affirms that Grillo is actually of Apulian origin. Others trace it back to previous periods and consider it an indigenous Sicilian vine, but only guesses.
Organoleptic characteristics of Grillo wine
The bouquet of the Grillo is generous, wide and envelops your nose with warm fruit, broom and hawthorn, then aromas of pine and plum, flowers and even more fruit and salt. It does not have a subtle line, it does not hide and it does not titillate you with references or games of chiaroscuro, but the charm and the fabric are there. And they are crystal clear.
On the palate, the Grillo is an impact wine, heat and alcohol push, but there is an underlying softness. The freshness takes on the flavors of citrus fruits and mixes with the memory of the sea. Perhaps what it lacks is depth, development: as mentioned it has a lot to give, but it is an immediate wine, which, however complex it may become, does not have many nuances. Persistence is always good.
Bottles of Grillo to try
And since we are so critical, but at the same time in love with the Grillo, we will tell you which are our favorites. Or at least the ones that have stood out in recent years. First of all, once again Nino Barraco, a pioneer who, thanks to the work of a Carthusian monk, is overturning commonplaces on Sicilian wine. Drinking the Cricket from the Barraco winery is a bewildering experience, you will never go back to the two-dimensional Grillo.
Another excellent Grillo of great fabric is that of the Foderà winery: intense and endowed with elegance. There aren’t many Grillo that we haven’t tasted yet and we hope to do it soon, but in terms of courage and depth, these two don’t beat anyone. The concept of its intense Grillo as a great wine is missing, so it is vinified as a salty and pleasant aperitif wine. Where the Grillo takes off and becomes an absolute masterpiece, the heritage of humanity is in the production of Marsala, but this is a completely different wine.
Serving temperature of Grillo wine
Like all savory and full-bodied white wines, but not very fragrant, serve it at a temperature of 10 degrees, the simplest bottles even at 8 degrees.
Price of Grillo wine
It is not a very expensive wine, the simplest bottles to drink within the year have a very affordable cost, usually 5-8 euros. Some of the finest Grillos arrive at 15-20, especially if they are artisanal-natural wines.
Food Pairings
All sea and river fish, white meats, duck with orange, risotto, Chinese cuisine not too spicy, paella, veal with tuna sauce, spaghetti with clams, pumpkin tortelli alla mantovana, rice noodles with shrimps and vegetables, risotto with truffles, spaghetti carbonara, pad thai.