2015 Valle dell'Acate Grillo Zagra DOC 750 ml

Sicily’s Most Ancient Grape— at a Double-Take Price

In previous offers we had to issue a caveat when talking about Sicilian wines. An unfortunate history had to be accounted for: Through the mid-’80s, the island churned out oceans of cheap, dry wines and sloppily made sweet and fortified wines. Nearly every drop that made it into the export market was produced by local cooperatives, all of which emphasized quantity over quality.

Today, no such caveat is necessary. Critics from Eric Asimov to Robert Parker are over the moon about the bottles coming out of the sun-kissed toe of Italy’s boot, with Asimov naming Sicily “one of the most exciting wine regions in the world.” Older generations of winemakers had tried to cleave to the demands of the international wine market, turning out truckloads of mediocre Chardonnay, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon. Today’s standout Sicilian wines are produced by a young class of winemakers, largely populated by women who have inherited family businesses. Specializing in the island’s indigenous grapes, they are making dynamite reds, powerful yet light on their feet, showing tremendous finesse and indescribable aromatic complexity.

Valle dell’Acate, located at the southeastern tip of Sicily, is at the top of that class. “An important, historic estate owned by the Jacono and Ferreri families and led brilliantly today by Gaetana Jacono and Francesco Ferreri, Valle dell’Acate has gone from strength to strength over the years,” raved Vinous last month. The estate’s turnaround also stunned Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate: “Gaetana Jacono and her excellent winemaking team have done an outstanding job of matching their grape varieties to the various soils.” The Wine Advocate also noted that the 2015s are “the nicest set of wines I have yet to taste from Valle dell’Acate.”

The winery is situated on one of the arid, alluvial terraces carved by the Acate River, its vineyards featuring mesoclimates characterized by proximity to the coast, about 12 miles away, and difficult stony soil. In recent years, Gaetana and her staff carried out a comprehensive zonation study that allowed them to precisely pair grape varietals to the parcels with the best soils for growth, resulting in pitch-perfect expressions.

Thanks to these efforts, in 2015 Valle dell’Acate crafted Sicily’s finest Grillo — an ancient Sicilian variety that was noted to be one of Julius Caesar’s favorites. The Grillo grape is frequently used in western Sicily’s most misunderstood wine, Marsala, for its mineral characteristics, high acidity and wonderfully floral character. Grillo made in a dry style is where the grape truly shines. It reminds us of a Sancerre with an infusion of salty Sicilian sea air.

Valle dell’Acate grows their Grillo in a vineyard well over 500 feet above sea level, where the black soil is strewn with white pebbles. Thanks to this soil structure, vines can push deep into the land to the clay-and-sandstone strata, oxygenating easily and resulting in the wine’s beautifully tropical nose and saline acidity. Following the cold, rainy harvest of 2014, 2015 was a banner year, coming in bright and warm and delivering a well-timed dose of precipitation and cool weather in August. Berries were small, skins thick, sugars high, and grapes beautifully ripe.

Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate went wild for this wine, calling it a “buoyant, vibrant and bright … (with) tones of white mineral and crushed oyster shell,” before giving the $16.99 wine 90 points — high praise indeed.

The 2015 Valle dell’Acate Grillo “Zagra” has a crystal-clear straw-yellow color with pungent aromas of honeysuckle, Meyer lemon, beeswax, and white almond. Fresh and zesty on the palate with a core of white peach fruit and a mineral underpinning. Succulent and delicious. Drink now to 2020. This is a tremendous value from Valle dell’Acate, a bottle that argues for carving out a corner of your cellar for one of the most unique coastal wines of Sicily.

90 points from Robert Parker and Antonio Galloni’s Vinous. With just 300 bottles earmarked for WineAccess, there’s no sense piling on the adjectives. At $16.99/bottle for one of the top Italian bargains on today’s market, this won’t last long.