Italy · Western Sicily & Trapani Coast

Disisa S.r.l. Societa Agricola

Fifth-generation estate in western Sicily's Monreale DOC, farming 150 hectares between 350 and 500 metres above sea level since 1867. The Grillo is fermented cold and aged in steel; the nose runs from lantana flower to pear and passion fruit, the palate closes on dried citrus peel.

The producer

Feudo Disisa sits above the village of Grisì in the Monreale DOC, a zone of elevated vineyards on the slopes below the hilltop cathedral town of Monreale, roughly twenty kilometres inland from Palermo. The Di Lorenzo family has managed the estate without interruption since 1867, now in its fifth generation, farming 150 hectares of vine on hillsides between 350 and 500 metres with no purchased grapes. At that elevation, cooler nights lengthen the growing season and hold the acid line that defines the estate's wines.

The range runs to around twelve wines, mixing native Sicilian varieties with international plantings introduced over the past forty years. The Grillo, a crossing of Catarratto and Zibbibo, is the clearest statement of what the estate does: fermented at 15 to 18 degrees Celsius in temperature-controlled tanks, aged six months in steel, released without oak. The nose lifts toward lantana and zagara flower, then pear and passion fruit; the palate is round and balanced, with a firm acid note that carries through to a dried citrus peel finish.

Known for

Native Sicilian whites, particularly Grillo, cool-fermented in steel at high altitude in the Monreale DOC.

Notable facts

The story

The Cellar Renato Built

Renato Di Lorenzo built the estate cellar in the early 1870s, a few years after the family took on the Grisì property in 1867. He designed it for the hillside vineyards above the village, in what would become the Monreale DOC west of Palermo. The cellar has since processed 150 consecutive harvests under family ownership, with four more generations of Di Lorenzos working inside the same stone walls. Today the family ferments its Grillo in the same building, now fitted with temperature-controlled stainless tanks rather than Renato's original equipment, cooling the must to between 15 and 18 degrees to hold the flower and citrus the grape carries from vine to tank. The cellar Renato designed survives. What comes out of it has changed.

From the atlas

Disisa S.r.l. Societa Agricola

At A Glance

Estate: Feudo Disisa (Disisa S.r.l. Societa Agricola) Family: Di Lorenzo, fifth generation Since: 1867 Location: Grisì, Monreale DOC, western Sicily Elevation: 350 to 500 metres above sea level Vineyards: 150 hectares, estate fruit only Key Grape: Grillo Signature Wine: Grillo Territoriali

The Producer

Feudo Disisa sits above the village of Grisì in western Sicily, in the Monreale DOC, a zone of elevated vineyards on the slopes below the hilltop cathedral town of Monreale, roughly twenty kilometres inland from Palermo. The Di Lorenzo family has managed the estate without interruption since 1867 and is now in its fifth generation. That continuity is physical as much as biographical: the cellar Renato Di Lorenzo built in the early 1870s still stands and still processes every harvest.

The estate farms 150 hectares of vine, all estate-grown, using no purchased grapes. Altitude is the dominant geographic fact. The vineyards range from 350 to 500 metres, which in Sicily is enough to shift growing conditions considerably: cooler nights, longer ripening, better acid retention than the coastal plains.

The range mixes native Sicilian varieties with international plantings. Grillo and Catarratto cover the native whites. Nero d'Avola and Perricone the native reds. Chardonnay, Merlot, and Syrah fill the international tier, with the Chardonnay planted roughly forty years ago, an unusually early commitment for a Sicilian estate.

Place

Monreale DOC is a western Sicily appellation centred on the ancient hill town of the same name. The zone sits inland, above the coastal heat that shapes most low-elevation Sicilian wine. At Feudo Disisa's elevations, between 350 and 500 metres, the vines build acidity through cooler nights and a longer growing season than the island's average. That acid retention is not decorative: it is the structural fact that keeps the estate's Grillo fresh through six months of steel ageing and carries the aromatic persistence to the finish of the wine.

The Monreale DOC label places the estate firmly in a Sicilian context while signalling altitude and inland position. Grillo on the label tells a buyer the wine is built from a native crossing rather than an international variety, and the combination predicts the aromatic profile: citrus, stone fruit, flower, and a saline, citrus-peel finish rather than tropical softness.

Soil And Site

The packet does not carry detailed soil analysis for Feudo Disisa. The physical differentiators in the sourced material are elevation and inland position. Vineyards between 350 and 500 metres on Sicilian hillsides typically show calcareous and clay-limestone soils, though no specific soil type is confirmed by the verified source material and none is claimed here.

Story

The Di Lorenzo family took on the Grisì estate in 1867. A few years later, Renato Di Lorenzo built the cellar to handle the hillside harvest, probably in the early-to-mid 1870s. That cellar has now completed 150 consecutive harvests, an unbroken run across five generations and two centuries of Sicilian wine history.

The estate's approach to varieties evolved across that span. The native Sicilian grapes, Grillo, Catarratto, Nero d'Avola, and Perricone, form the backbone of the range. Alongside them, international plantings arrived beginning roughly forty years ago, when the family added Chardonnay at a time when that was an unusual choice for Sicily. The range today carries both commitments without treating either as a corrective to the other.

The Grillo has become the clearest statement of what the estate does. It is made from the crossing of two Sicilian grapes, fermented cool in temperature-controlled tanks, aged in steel, and released without oak. The method holds what the grape carries and what the altitude provides.

Vineyards And Cellar

All 150 hectares are farmed on the estate. No purchased grapes enter the range. Vineyards at 350 to 500 metres give the fruit an extended growing season, which builds aromatic complexity and maintains the acid line that defines the Grillo's palate.

In the cellar, the Grillo is fermented at 15 to 18 degrees Celsius, a cool range that slows yeast activity and locks in the aromatic compounds the grape carries from vine to tank. After fermentation the wine stays in steel vats for six months, then spends sixty days in bottle before release. No oak. The method is one of preservation rather than addition: the aim is to deliver lantana flower, zagara blossom, pear, and passion fruit intact, then let the grape's natural acid carry the finish.

The Chardonnay and some red expressions see different treatment, with barrel ageing referenced in importer material, though specific oak regimes for those wines are not detailed in the verified source material.

Wines

The estate produces around twelve wines across four categories. The Territoriali tier is built on estate-specific native varieties tied directly to grape and place. This is where the Grillo lives.

The Grillo Territoriali is 100% Grillo, a variety that carries the genetics of two older Sicilian grapes: Catarratto, the high-volume native white farmed across the island, and Zibbibo, also called Muscat of Alexandria, the grape behind the sweet Passito wines of Pantelleria. The crossing inherits Catarratto's citrus edge and Zibbibo's aromatic lift. Cool fermentation and steel ageing mean neither parent's character is buried under oak or softened by malolactic enrichment.

The Chardonnay takes a Burgundian direction, a different register from the Grillo: richer, oak-influenced, with more weight on the palate. The reds draw on Nero d'Avola and Perricone, native Sicilian varieties with deep colour and firm tannin, with at least some barrel-aged expressions in the range.

The international varieties, Merlot and Syrah alongside the Chardonnay, sit in their own tier. The sourced material describes the range as a deliberate combination of native and international grapes rather than a conversion from one to the other.

In The Glass

The Grillo pours straw yellow with a green tint, the colour of a wine fermented cold and kept away from oxygen. On the nose the first thing that rises is flower: lantana and zagara blossom, the white citrus flowers of the Sicilian spring. Under the flower comes pear and passion fruit, rounder and slightly tropical, a signal of the Zibbibo genetics in the variety. The nose is aromatic but not heavy.

In the mouth the palate is rounder than the nose suggests. There is a fruity, almost enchanting quality, balanced by a firm acid note that does not announce itself but makes itself felt at mid-palate and carries through to the finish. That acid line is the altitude coming through. It extends the aromatic persistence, so the flower and citrus stay present after the wine has left the palate. The finish settles on dried citrus peel, a clean, slightly saline close.

The Chardonnay, by contrast, goes toward weight and oak: a richer, more built-up style. The reds offer deeper colour and more extractive tannin, with the Nero d'Avola providing dark fruit and the Perricone a spicier, more tannic note.

A Bottle To Understand It

The Grillo Territoriali is the bottle to start with. It is 100% Grillo from estate vineyards between 350 and 500 metres, fermented cold and aged in steel, with no oak at any stage. In the glass it opens on lantana flower and zagara blossom, moves to pear and passion fruit, then closes on dried citrus peel with a firm acid line running underneath. The wine is aromatic, balanced, and clean. It costs nothing in oak character or weight to deliver what the grape and the altitude produce between them. Begin here to understand both the grape and what the Monreale hillside does to it.

Anecdote

Renato Di Lorenzo built the estate cellar in the early 1870s, a few years after the family took on the Grisì property in 1867. He designed it for the hillside vineyards above the village, in what would become the Monreale DOC west of Palermo. The cellar has since processed 150 consecutive harvests under family ownership, with four more generations of Di Lorenzos working inside the same stone walls. Today the family ferments its Grillo in the same building, now fitted with temperature-controlled stainless tanks rather than whatever Renato put there first, cooling the must to between 15 and 18 degrees to hold the flower and citrus the grape carries from vine to tank. The cellar Renato designed survives. What comes out of it has changed.

Final Word

Feudo Disisa is a high-altitude western Sicily estate with a family timeline long enough to span grape variety fashions and Sicilian wine's modern transformation. The Grillo is where that timeline converges with a single clear choice: a native Sicilian crossing, fermented cool, aged in steel, and released with its aromatic inheritance intact. For a buyer new to the estate, this is the bottle.

Sources

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