A glass of Grillo wine will bring you to the beaches of Sicily regardless of where you sip it. The less-known Sicilian white wine has been becoming more widely available on wine lists worldwide, creating some fantastic expressions. This article will provide everything you must learn about your soon-to-be-favorite white wine.
What exactly is Grillo wine?
Grillo is a lively white wine made with its Grillo grape. Although it’s perhaps more well-known as a blending grape in Marsala, a Sicilian fortified wine that’s perfect for serving, eating, and cooking, more producers are creating superb single-varietal wines made from Grillo. Grillo wines often have beautiful golden hues and a luscious mouthfeel.
Why You Should Drink More Wines from Sicily and PugliaWhere, did Grillo originate from?
Sicily is the ideal place to cultivate Grillo grapes for several reasons. First, Grillo has a more robust skin than white wines like Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon, which helps protect them from the sun and allows them to thrive in the hot and dry Mediterranean climate. In addition, due to its unique geological makeup, Sicily has some of the most intriguing soil types that any region of wine has. Sicily is a fantastic island. Sicily is located between two massive plates, the Eurasian and the African plates. The continual collision and overlap have created Sicily’s many microclimates and variegated soils spanning over 100 million years. This complex geological structure is why Sicily is so stunning to explore. You can even climb an active volcano and look for sea fossils on beautiful beaches within an hour, and you can experience a variety of wines. The different terroirs from the limestone, clay silica, chalk, and sand mean that the same grape variety grown in the same manner from a vineyard only a couple of meters away may produce an utterly different wine.
The reason you should be drinking Grillo
Grillo is tasty, but it’s also an absolute bargain. Despite the excellent quality of wines produced with Grillo and its potential to develop a taste after some years of age, Grillo (and Sicilian wines generally) are typically the most affordable bottles to purchase from the Italian aisle at your local wine shop. “What excites me about Sicily right now is that this amazing region is beginning to gain global recognition for making excellent wines,” says Steph Heins, the general director at Carlotto in New York City. While Carlotto’s impressive wine collection includes bottles from every corner of Italy, som of the best bargains for white and red wines are located in those Sicilian sections. “We’re able to drink these fun, high quality bottles without breaking the budget, something that is becoming harder to do when looking at other popular Italian wine regions,” Heins says.
What’s the flavor of Grillo Taste like?
Grillo is a truly anything-goes white wine with options for those who love fruity Pinot Grigno or a silky White Burgundy. Expressions range from round to a hint of marzipan, mineral-driven and clear with white flowers such as jasmine and lilac. It can also be fruity, with the scent of tropical citrus, based on where the grapes were harvested and how the wine was created. Like Chardonnay, Grillo is a highly impressionable grape, and winemaking decisions will significantly impact the final product.
Grillo has a rich aroma, which, like the Riesling and Gewurztraminer, can add richness to blends. “Grillo is a fantastic first step towards enjoying more aromatic wines,” says Lauren Hoey, wine director at Jupiter, a brand new Italian restaurant in the city of New York’s Rockefeller Center. “It’s beautifully perfumed without being too overwhelming with fruity, herbal, and savory notes to balance out the more floral aromas.” Young vintages can be refreshing and bright, perfect for a summer day. However, Grillo can also get older. “I love how complex and textured it can become as it evolves with bottle age,” Hoey adds. Hoey.
5 Great Grillos to Try
For those who love sparkling wines. This refreshing Brut Nature offers the most appealing classical sparkling wines with acidity and rich tropical fruit flavor. This wine follows he French traditional method of Grillo grapes, whose vines were planted around thirty years ago. It is excellent with seafood and is rich enough and able to withstand fatter fish such as tuna and mackerel. Try the Bartoli “Integer,” a still wine made using minimal intervention that is exciting and surprising.
Mortellito Calaincu Bianco
“This is a quintessentially summer wine with its bright citrus fruit and mineral-driven salinity,” Hoey says. Hoey. A blend of 90 percent Grillo and 10 percent Cataratto another under-rated Sicilian white wine) This zesty wine has flavors of tangerine, lemongrass, and even a hint of tart Apricot. The wine is an excellent match for a refreshing ceviche or a spicy and vibrant spring salad.
Feudo Montoni Grillo della Timpa Sicilia DOC
Infused with notes of honey and white peach suckle, This bottle of Grillo is a great one to open just before eating, and let it carry you from the happy hour until dinner. Feudo Montoni is an organic winery that allows nature guide its winemaking process, relying on little intervention from the grape to glass.
Planeta La Segreta Grillo
Planeta is a family-owned business. Planeta has been producing wine for many generations. Their single-varietal Grillo has an array of fruity notes derived from cooked apples in a concentrated form with a bright citrus and minty green herbal notes in the final.
Donnafugata Sur Sur Grillo
Donnafugata’s Grillo is undeniably gorgeous, with beautiful flowers of white and orange blossom, melon, and white peach. It is the perfect wine for summer to drink at an aperitivo time.