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Alessandro Viola

Sinfonia di Grillo 2016

Price: $42.95
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Tasting notes

The six-day skin maceration and seven months in chestnut botti pull out a savory, amber-hued side of Grillo that rarely shows up in conventional bottlings: cinnamon, bruised apple, iron, and a mineral, gooseberry-edged palate. At nearly a decade old, this 2016 has evolved into something genuinely complex for a skin-contact Sicilian white.

BodyFruitTanninAcidity
Dried ApricotEarthOrangeHoney
  • Style: Dry, medium-bodied orange wine; deep cloudy amber; earthy, mineral, spiced apple; 13% ABV
  • Grapes & Terroir: 100% Grillo; organic and biodynamic; clay soils at 200m, Pietra Rinosa near Alcamo, northwestern Sicily, Gulf of Castellammare influence
  • Winemaking: Indigenous yeast fermentation in stainless steel; 6-day skin maceration; 7-month aging in old chestnut botti; unfined, unfiltered, no added sulfites
  • Serving: Serve at 55-60F; 15-20 min decant recommended; expect natural sediment and cloudiness
  • Pairing: Grilled mackerel, sardines, caponata, aged pecorino, couscous alla Trapanese, Sicilian antipasti
  • Similar To: For fans of Radikon, Gravner, or Foradori Nosiola who want a Mediterranean skin-contact expression

Sinfonia di Grillo is a skin-contact white wine from Alessandro Viola, made from 100% Grillo grown organically and biodynamically in the Alcamese hinterland of northwestern Sicily. The grapes come from Viola's Pietra Rinosa site near Alcamo, where clay soils at 200 meters are cooled by breezes off the Gulf of Castellammare. The wine is classified under Terre Siciliane IGT, which gives Viola the flexibility to farm and vinify without the constraints of stricter DOC rules.

Winemaking here is strictly non-interventionist. Grapes are fermented spontaneously with indigenous yeasts in stainless steel, with six days of skin maceration before pressing. The wine then ages for seven months in old chestnut botti. It is bottled unfined and unfiltered with no added sulfites. The label's designation "non filtrato, macerato" states exactly what is in the bottle.

Grillo is a Sicilian white grape with origins tied to Catarratto and Muscat of Alexandria. It is well-suited to the island's hot, dry summers and is historically associated with Marsala production. In Viola's hands, with extended skin contact and chestnut-barrel aging, it takes on an amber hue, a textured body, and a savory, oxidative edge that sets it apart from conventional Grillo expressions.

The 2016 vintage pours a deep, cloudy amber. Expect cinnamon, bruised apple, earth, and iron on the nose, with a palate of lemon, orange, and gooseberry underpinned by medium acidity and a mineral finish. This is a wine for drinkers who want something genuinely funky and place-driven, not a polished, fruit-forward white.

The wine's savory, mineral profile and moderate tannins from skin contact make it a natural match for oily fish like grilled mackerel or sardines, and for Sicilian antipasti including caponata and aged pecorino. It also works well alongside couscous alla Trapanese, a coastal dish from the same northwestern corner of Sicily where the grapes are grown.

Wine details

Dry/Sweet:, Dry
Wine Type:, Orange Wine
Wine Style:, Medium Body
Grapes:, Grillo
Farming:, Organic and Biodynamic
Vintage:, 2016
Alcohol:, 13%
Country:, Italy
Region:, Sicily
Appellation:, Terre Siciliane IGT
Bottle Size:, 750ml
Sugar Level:, Zero Added Sugar

We will process and ship your order in 2-3 business days, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with tracking as soon as the Carrier scans the shipping label.

Ground shipping time depends on location, here's a breakdown:

West Coast: 1-2 business days
Midwest: 3-4 business days
East Coast: 5 business days

Process time is not shipping time. Shipping time starts from the days successive to the day of shipping, after the order has been processed.

See here our shipping policy.


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If you'd like to receive a refund for a package that was returned to us after FedEx made three delivery attempts, we can do that but we must keep a $20 refund fee; FedEx charges us a lot of money for returns, unfortunately, I can't stress this enough.


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2. As soon as your order ships from the warehouse, usually within 2-3 business days, this applies to all shipping rates, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with your tracking information. 2DAY shipping refers to shipping time; we still need 2-3 business days to prepare an order. We need to pick and pack, QA, add printed collateral, and palletize the orders.

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If you are not satisfied with your purchase, please contact us at (424) 414-2040 or via e-mail at hello@primalwine.com between 9 am and 5 pm Pacific Standard Time, Monday through Sunday, we would like to understand and try to solve your concerns. We can offer refunds only as store credit.

Producer profile

Alessandro Viola

Alessandro Viola is based in Alcamo, in the province of Trapani in northwestern Sicily, roughly halfway between Palermo and Trapani on the north coast. His father was a vine grower who bottled very little of what he produced. Viola trained formally as both an agronomist and oenologist, gaining experience working in northern Italy and on Mount Etna before returning to Alcamo in the late 1990s to make wine under his own name, initially in collaboration with a friend under the label Uva Tantum.

The estate covers 7 hectares across two distinct sites. Pietra Rinosa, near Alcamo, sits at 200 meters on clay soils and is strongly influenced by ocean air from the Gulf of Castellammare. The Fastuchera vineyards climb to 400 meters on calcareous soils on the slopes of Mount Bonifato, yielding finer, more mineral-driven wines. Viola farms all vineyards organically and biodynamically, working strictly by hand. The estate grows exclusively indigenous Sicilian varieties: Catarratto, Grillo, Carricante, Nero d'Avola, and Nerello Mascalese.

Viola's winemaking approach is built on a single principle: wine should contain only grapes. Fermentation occurs spontaneously with native yeasts. Wines are aged in old chestnut botti. All wines are bottled unfined and unfiltered, with little to no added sulfites. For the Sinfonia di Grillo specifically, the must macerates on skins for six days in stainless steel before pressing, followed by seven months of aging in chestnut barrels.

Wine region

Sicily, Italy

Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean and Italy's southernmost wine region, with a winemaking history stretching back more than 2,500 years. The climate is predominantly Mediterranean: hot, dry summers and mild, wet winters, with significant temperature variation by elevation. Northwestern Sicily around Alcamo and Marsala is defined by clay, limestone, and sandy soils, while the slopes of Mount Etna in the northeast feature volcanic basalt. The island's proximity to the sea moderates heat in coastal vineyard sites, particularly along the Gulf of Castellammare in the province of Trapani.

Sicily's key appellations include Etna DOC, Cerasuolo di Vittoria DOCG (the island's only DOCG), Marsala DOC, and Alcamo DOC, alongside the broad Terre Siciliane IGT and Sicilia DOC designations. Terre Siciliane IGT covers the entire island and permits significant flexibility in grape varieties and winemaking technique, making it the natural home for producers like Alessandro Viola who work outside conventional parameters. Indigenous white varieties Grillo and Catarratto dominate the northwest, while Nero d'Avola leads red production in the south, and Nerello Mascalese defines the Etna appellation.

Frequently asked question

We will process and ship your order in 2-3 business days, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with tracking as soon as the Carrier scans the shipping label.

Ground shipping time depends on location, here's a breakdown:

West Coast: 1-2 business days
Midwest: 3-4 business days
East Coast: 5 business days

Process time is not shipping time. Shipping time starts from the days successive to the day of shipping, after the order has been processed.

See here our shipping policy.

Signature on delivery is mandatory for wine deliveries. Please make sure someone is at the shipping address to sign for the package.

If applicable, please consider delivering the package to a business address to ensure someone is available to sign for the package.

We also have the option of delivering the package to a Carrier's store for pickup. Please reach out to us to coordinate.

Carrier will try to delivery a package up to three times before returning the package to us.

See here our shipping policy.

If you miss a delivery and a package gets returned to us we have two options:

1) Reship the package right away: due to the very high cost of shipping and returns, we must charge a re-shipping fee to be determined based on package size and shipping destination.

2) Consolidate the returned package with your next order: this option is free of charge and it's the most popular option.

See here our shipping policy.

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