Every Friday, I take you on a discovery of a spirit that smells of nature and sunshine, just like a beautiful weed that offers us the best of the earth. This week, we’re heading for Sardinia for a sip of warmth before winter sets in.
As temperatures cool, there’s nothing better than a Tenute Dettori wine from the Romangia region (north-west Sardinia) to relive a vacation in the sun.
The vineyard, founded in 1980 by Alessandro Dettori, now covers 24 hectares and is farmed biodynamically.
Alessandro’s aim has always been for his wines to represent the essence of terroir, the real, true terroir. He creates wines of tradition and terroir, free wines, free to express themselves, free to fully express their terroir because they are simply the product of a fermented grape. They are not wines enslaved by commercial logic and marketing. They are not wines studied and crafted for a large market.
Alessandro also refuses to enter the D.O.C. appellation (Italian equivalent of A.O.C.) because for him wine is the expression of a specific terroir, so he has chosen to market them as IGT Romangia, an appellation that only applies to wines produced in the communes of Sennori and Sorso in Sardinia.
The varieties grown are historical ones such as Cannonau, Monica, Pascale, Vermentino and Moscato di Sennori, with some very old vines over 100 years old. The estate uses no chemical or synthetic substances, the Dettori philosophy being that a few simple gestures in the cellar are enough to ensure that only the grape and the terroir find their way into the glass.
The range is quite extensive, but the wine that caught my eye was the “Renosu Bianco”, as much for its aromatic complexity as for its excellent value for money (around 12 euros a bottle in France).
Made from 45-year-old Moscato Giallo and Vermentino vines, this wine undergoes a short maceration (3 to 10 days) in cement tanks. Neither clarified nor filtered, it has a maximum of 20 mg of sulfur added at bottling.
This is what is known as a vin orange, technically a vin blanc de macération.
This process, invented over 8,000 years ago in Georgia, adds tannins and great aromatic complexity to the wine, and also facilitates its proper conservation.
The color is a pretty orange-yellow.
The nose reveals aromas of fruit (apricot, orange), white flowers, herbaceous notes and a hint of saltiness.
The taste is deep, with hints of apricot and aromatic herbs, and a tiny bit of residual sugar, giving this Renosu Bianco a certain sweetness, ending on a slightly salty note.
It’s a terribly addictive, dreamy wine, a remedy for gloomy weather, the ray of sunshine we’re missing.
Have a good weekend and see you next week!
