Uriel, the archangel of repentance whose translation is ‘God of Light’, played a very important role in ancient texts as the ‘rescuer’. Uriel was the angel who checked each of the doors during Passover in order to ensure safety for God’s people. The correlation here is that, as the most important white grape on Sicily, Grillo is the ‘principal light.’ It’s a very resilient grape and one that withstands a lot of heat and wind on Sicily. Grillo is probably best known as the foundation for Marsala but in its ‘dry’ form has many interesting characteristics. The vineyard for this wine is located in Western Sicily, in the Salemi area at about 25 miles from Marsala. It is planted around a third of a mile above sea level and is east facing on sandy and clay rich soil. Vines are VSP trained with guyot pruning.
After de-stemming and maceration for a few hours, the grapes were subject to soft-press before a gentle fining. Fermentation took place in temperature-controlled stainless-steel tanks. The wine was then left on its lees for about about two months before being bottled with a one-micron filtration and sulfur addition.