2024 Grillo 'Vitese', Colomba Bianca

The Sicilian Sunbeam

This is Grillo in its happiest summer shirt: bright, breezy and full of Mediterranean charm. Made from organically grown grapes in Sicily, it opens with ripe melon, green apple, yellow peach and citrus, followed by orange blossom, white pepper and a clean mineral edge. It is aromatic without being showy, sunny without being soft.

The palate is fresh, harmonious and gently textured, with juicy stone fruit, lemon-lime brightness and a lightly saline finish that makes it dangerously easy to pour another glass. There is no oak to get in the way, just pure Sicilian fruit, floral lift and that lovely coastal snap. A brilliantly useful white, but with enough character to feel like more than just the house bottle.

For when you want sunshine in the glass, but still want the wine to have manners.
Pairs with grilled prawns, seafood pasta, lemon roast chicken, courgette risotto, caponata, salty nibbles, or a plate of fritto misto.
If this wine were… a moment, it would be the first cold glass poured on a hot terrace, with the sea somewhere just out of sight.

Colomba Bianca is one of Sicily’s great cooperative success stories, combining serious scale with an increasingly precise, site-conscious approach to winemaking. Founded in 1970, it is widely described as Sicily’s largest grower cooperative and Italy’s biggest producer of organic wine, with more than 1,800 hectares of organically farmed vines. The Vitese range shows that focus especially clearly: organic, modern, varietal wines designed to capture the freshness and character of Sicily’s native grapes. This Grillo is hand harvested, softly pressed, fermented cool and aged in stainless steel for around four months, preserving its citrus, melon, orange blossom and mineral freshness