Elios Modus Bibendi Grillo Terre Siciliane 2018 (750 ml)

GRAPES VARIETY: Grillo (100%)

SOIL: clay calcareous

AGEING: 7 months in stainless steel tin

WINEMAKING: natural, spontaneous fermentation

Grillo is one of the most interesting native Sicilian grapes, though difficult to grow and manage. Its very name “Grillo”, which in Italian means grasshopper, indicates the “hopping” nature of the variety, which often does not ripen uniformly and so the production of wine is not constant.

In the past it was “not respected” as a grape since it was harvested when over-ripe and used for blending in the production of Marsala, or vinified in small amounts, in imitation of French wines produced with Sauvignon blanc to cater for international tastes.

When we set our sights on the Grillo grapes cultivated in the Camporeale vineyard back in 2015, we decided to make it into the wine it is, Grillo, and not as a high grade or as a Sauvignon blanc. We wanted to give those grapes - and therefore the wine - a very clear identity, obtaining a medium-bodied wine with good acidity, well-balanced with its alcohol content. It has an aromatic profile reminiscent of the Mediterranean maquis rather than tropical fruit.

This is our way of interpreting Grillo and we strongly believe in its revival, but only if it is naturally vinified for what it really is, without copying French models.

We make minimum intervention low sulfites wines only with our native Sicilian organic grapes grown between Alcamo, Camporeale and Monreale; areas all located in the north-west part of Sicily.

Grillo, Zibibbo, Nero d'Avola, Catarratto and Nerello Mascalese are the varieties we grow.

Elios came about in 2015, when we both found ourselves having to decide on the future of our career paths.

We were both dissatisfied with our jobs, both fed up with working for other people’s dreams. Both in love for natural wines.

Despite coming from different backgrounds, what we had in common was a love of nature and of Sicily and the desire to revitalise our families’ agricultural holdings, which up to that point had been under the thumb of the industrial groups to which we sold our grapes and olives for next to nothing.

OUR IDEA WAS TO PRODUCE:

Wine trough a low intervention winemaking process (without using chemicals or additives etc.), from the grapes that our parents sold to major wineries, thus giving the grapes the chance to truly express themselves and recover their lost dignity.Our start was not simple. We bet on our lands and dared on something unusual for our area.Practically all the people in our province (Trapani) are great vines cultivators but not winemakers. Nobody wants to risk any cent nowadays to make wine. People prefer to be sure to sell the grapes for nothing to big wineries, thus living in a comfort zones but at the same time complaining cyclically about the price and the low profit farming model.We decided to go against the current, dreaming to relaunch the territory and the potentials of our farms.

Tech Sheet