Grillo

Grillo is the best white grape of western Sicily and, unlike most Sicilian varieties, its parentage is known: it is a crossing of Catarratto and Muscat of Alexandria, which probably occurred in Sicily in the nineteenth century. It arrived in time to become a mainstay of Marsala, and it was long considered the finer of the two grapes used for it.

The reason is acidity. Grillo holds its acid in the heat of Marsala and Trapani far better than Catarratto does, and it also reaches high sugar, so it can make a strong wine that still tastes fresh. It resists oxidation, which mattered enormously for a fortified wine aged in part barrels, and it has enough aromatic character from its Muscat parent to be interesting on its own.

As Marsala declined, growers turned Grillo into a dry table wine, and it took the change well. The style is medium bodied and firm, with grapefruit, white peach, a saline finish and often a green herbal note. It is now the white most likely to be bottled under a Sicilian estate name and sold abroad.