Sicilian white grape variety once used as the base for the best marsala. Grown on bush vines, it produced potent, full-bodied base wines that were supplemented by a proportion of the more aromatic inzolia. dna profiling established that Grillo is a natural cross of Sicily’s Catarratto with Muscat of Alexandria. At its best, it gives full-bodied wines of real interest, although they lack the aromatic intensity that has made Inzolia’s transformation from fortified to dry white wine variety so much easier. Plantings have grown substantially. Virtually all of Italy’s 6,294 ha/15,553 acres in 2010 were in Sicily, although the Rossese Bianco of Liguria has been shown to be identical to Grillo. See sicily for more details.
