Sunday, October 23, 2016

Trip to Sardinia (Day 2)...Visit to Tenute Dettori in Sennori


(October 23)

 photo IMG_3975_zps3mgkliox.jpg
Good morning, Alghero. I slept through the night deeply and felt so good in the morning. My travel companions arrived from Tokyo late last night, and I met them in the morning. Great to meet Etsuko and my wine friends again and start our adventure in Sardinia.

We left the hotel around 9.30 and headed to Sennori, about 1 hour from Alghero, and it's situated north western of Sardinia. On the way, we saw a lot of sheep and even a big herd of them walking in the same road as our microbus. They were so cute!

 photo IMG_4025_zpsnwedfie1.jpg  photo IMG_4024_zps3afoi5my.jpg  photo IMG_3976_zpsqgvs6m7q.jpg
We arrived at Tenute Dettori, a family-owned winery where we had an appointment with Paulo. It's situated in the hill right near the coast and overlooks the ocean. Paulo and his son Alessandro currently run the winery. The family has been growing grapes for generations and used to sell to other wineries. Since vintage 2000 bottling, they started to make their own wines. The winery also runs agritourismo and restaurant.

 photo IMG_3978_zpsjh7fz6dr.jpg  photo IMG_3979_zpsjy9uhe2g.jpg  photo IMG_3981_zpshyfbbony.jpg  photo IMG_3982_zpslqe3c8kn.jpg
Paulo first gave us a tour of the cantina (winery). At Dettori, they practice organic and biodynamic farming of grapes. While they make non-vintage casual table wines, their real focus is single-vineyard "cru" wines from old vines. At the cantina, they only use cement vat for both fermentation and aging, because they want to show the most natural expression of each grape variety in their wines. Barrique is never used. Grapes are stemmed but not crushed before fermentation. Fermentation is done in the most natural manner with no added yeast or enzyme. Their wines are also non-fined and non-filtered. SO2 is added only when necessary at bottling.


We had a tasting of their lineup over lunch. The kitchen is managed by Paulo's wife, so I was excited to taste "manma's" cooking as much as to taste the wines.

 photo IMG_3985_zpsyjmmloid.jpg  photo IMG_3987_zpszcgfryun.jpg  photo IMG_3989_zpsooroy2gp.jpg
NV Renosu Bianco. 90% Vermentino and 10% Moscato. From 3 different vintages.
2015 Vettori Bianco. 100% Fermentino.
NV Renosu Rosso. 50% Cannonau/ 30% Monica/ 20% Pascale.

 photo IMG_3990_zpsgpdb0uji.jpg
Carasau - Sardinia's typical glad brad was so crispy and good.

 photo IMG_3991_zpsib4lof0x.jpg
Malloreddus alla campidanese (also called gnocchetti sardior) is another typical dish of Sardinia. They are small dumpling-shape gnocchi with tomato and sausage ragu and shaved pecorino. The dish was so simple and so delicious. I couldn't stop eating.

 photo IMG_3995_zpsin4ngimr.jpg  photo IMG_3996_zps1s7dcwxb.jpg
2013 "Chimbanta", Romangia Rosso. Monica 100%
2011 "Tuderi", Romangia Rosso. Connonau 100%. From 40-year-old vines.
Both are from a vineyard, Badde Nigolosu.

 photo IMG_3997_zpsrjfxgir3.jpg  photo IMG_3998_zpst3jmzju0.jpg  photo IMG_4001_zps0hhz8dha.jpg
Pork was so good!

 photo IMG_3999_zpsnr4k7whc.jpg  photo IMG_4002_zps5qwdamdf.jpg
2012 "Tenores", Romangia Rosso. 100% Cannonau. More powerful version of Tuderi.
2012 "Dettori" Romangia Rosso. 100% Cannonau. From more than 100-year-old vines. There are only 2 - 3 clusters yield from each vine.

Really impressive wines.

 photo IMG_4029_zpskazy9xm0.jpg  photo IMG_4034_zps6gypnael.jpg  photo IMG_4039_zpsnpfj9rsh.jpg
Then, Paulo took us to the vineyard to show us more than 100-year-old Cannonau vines.

It was a great visit.
 photo IMG_4046_zpsxxpsxsc1.jpg
 photo IMG_4045_zpsbpsirg5c.jpg  photo IMG_4048_zpszaoasjoi.jpg
We went back to Alghero late afternoon. The city was livery and relaxing at the same time.

 photo IMG_4050_zpsjuwcwwup.jpg  photo IMG_4051_zpskuwhjgjs.jpg
For dinner, we had a reservation at Ristorante La Lepanto, a popular seafood restaurant in town. We had typical Sardinian dishes.

 photo IMG_4055_zpshst9eumt.jpg  photo IMG_4058_zpsafb7xr72.jpg
Lobster linguine was great. Then, we also had monkfish.

 photo IMG_4061_zpspwczlfay.jpg
Dessert was seadas, that is a Sardinian fritter filled with cheese. Honey was drizzled over it and it was very good.

 photo IMG_4062_zpslwutj9bm.jpg
We enjoyed wonderful local wines plus Mirto di Sardigna, which is a local liqueur made from myrtle plant.

We had a full day of fun. I was so tired!