Santa Tresa spearheads revival of indigenous Orisi grape

By Hamish Graham

Published: 27 August, 2025

In July of this year the Sicilian red variety Orisi was recognised by the Gazetta Ufficiale Regione Siciliana as an indigenous grape variety that can be included on a bottle’s label. This status was gained in strong part thanks to the work of Stefano Girelli who has cultivated the grape at his Santa Tresa vineyard in Vittoria in an experimental vineyard (pictured) for the last decade.

The ‘campo sperimentale’ project began in 2009 at Santa Tresa in collaboration with the University of Palermo with the aim of reviving a number of ancient indigenous grape varieties, including Orisi. At present there are 2,830 vines planted in the vineyard, as well as 18 different types of vines and 31 phenotypes.

Santa Tresa and The Wine People (TWP) owner Girelli has long advocated for the use and revival of indigenous Italian grapes. Recently TWP partnered with Harpers to put on a roundtable exploring the potential of indigenous Sicilian varieties from Frappato to Nero d’Avola.

The quality of Orisi grown at Santa Tresa was such that Girelli decided to bottle it in 2020. Since this was prior to its recognition of it as an official Sicilian grape, the variety could not be mentioned on the bottled, therefore the wine was simply known as “O”. The team therefore had to rely on word of mouth to let people know the contents of the unique wine.

Girelli is proud of the work Santa Tresa has conducted to revive Orisi.

He commented: “As far as we know, Santa Tresa is the only estate in Sicily to grow Orisi, and we now have a total of 1,523 Orisi vines.

“After the issues we had with peronospera in 2023 and the drought in 2024, we discovered through our work in the experimental vineyard that Orisi is one of the most naturally resistant indigenous grapes in Sicily.

“In terms of white wines, we are getting fantastic results with Albanello. The quality is second to none and working with these indigenous, naturally resistant grapes is also the best choice in terms of sustainability as they need less support in the vineyard.”

The Santa Tresa range including Santa Tresa “O” are available to the UK trade through North South Wines.

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