Nino Barraco Vignammare Grillo 2018

Vignammare is 100% Grillo grown on a sand dune vineyard a few meters from the Mediterranean on the western coast of Sicily, near Marsala. The vineyard sits in Contrada Bausa, where sandy coastal soils and constant sea wind define what ends up in the glass. Barraco's oldest Grillo vines grow here, and this is the parcel he has farmed organically since taking over his family's estate in 2004.

For Vignammare, the grapes are picked roughly a month earlier than Barraco's other Grillo bottlings — in mid-August — to lock in acidity and keep alcohol low, landing around 10.5% ABV. After harvest, the grapes undergo a 24-hour maceration on the skins, are basket pressed, then fermented spontaneously with indigenous yeasts in concrete tanks. The wine is bottled unfined, unfiltered, and with no added sulfites.

The result is a light, saline white with flavors of lemon zest, grapefruit pith, sea salt, and white citrus. It has the structure of skin contact without the weight, and a persistent mineral finish that reflects the sand and proximity to the sea. The wine is classified as Terre Siciliane IGT, giving Barraco flexibility outside the Marsala DOC framework.

Nino Barraco is widely credited with redefining what wine from Marsala can be, moving away from the region's fortified legacy and toward single-vineyard, monovarietal whites and reds of genuine place identity. His annual production is around 40,000 bottles across five indigenous Sicilian varieties.