Marco De Bartoli Grappoli del Grillo 2013 Sicily, Italy

About the winemaker

Running a 20 ha winery near the town of Marsala in Sicily, Marco de Bartoli is the man who, 40 years ago, revived the Marsala wines which had become, for most of them, cheap cooking wines. Marco used the ancient solera method: adding small amounts of young wine to wines that are ageing in wood barrels. The result is a beautiful, fine, dry and delicate Marsala. Since then, the family has grown and Marco’s children, Renato, Sebastiano and Josephine now run the domain maintaining their father’s organic methods. No synthetic chemicals and no industrial yeasts are used in the vineyards and at the winery. Their focus has expanded beyond Marsala to produce also a range of dry white wines made from Sicilian varieties such as Grillo, Zibibbo and Catarratto as well as a red wine made with Pignatello and a sweet Passito made on the island of Pantelleria. The range has expanded but quality remains the core value of the De Bartoli family.