White
Il PioppoGrillo
Sicily · Camporeale · Grillo
Grillo spent a century as Marsala's workhorse, and when Marsala's reputation declined in the early 1900s, to then experience a full prestige collapse by the 1970s, the grape's value also declined. Sicily compounds it: for decades the island was Europe's bulk-wine engine, shipping tankers north to prop up thinner blends elsewhere. The recovery has been name-specific — Etna commands real money now, Camporeale doesn't. What Camporeale has is altitude, four hundred meters and up, which is where the acidity and the salt come from.
Il Pioppo farm organically in the hills inland from Palermo. It's worth knowing that organic farming costs a Sicilian producer far less than a French one — hot, dry, wind off the sea, almost no fungal pressure, which is why Sicily has more certified organic vineyards than any region in Italy. The work is a labor of love as much as in Burgundy and Champagne, but there is no premium to be charged. Stainless throughout, no oak, to preserve the freshness of the citrus and brine.
