This is an aromatic wine: it has salinity, a smell of hot rock and crumbly earth, and an explosion of citrus, starfruit, mango, lemon peel and apricot.  The palate continues the tropical fruit, adding a touch of pineapple; the orchard fruit is augmented by peach.  There’s more salinity here than on the nose and about he same level of minerality.  Marcona almond appears on the long finish.

Sardegna/Sardinia is the second largest island in the Mediterranean.  It has been inhabited for over 150,000 years; its native people have fought with Greeks, Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Catalans, and the Piedmontese.  It is a rocky place, with over 13% of its surface covered by mountains.  It has only a few rivers, rushing torrents in the winter and dry in the hot summer.  The grazing of animals, particularly sheep, is more important to the region’s economy than the making of wine.  Gallura is in the northeast of the island.  Its granitic soil produces high-quality wines in small quantities at elevations of 300-500 meters.  Vermentino di Gallura became Sardinia’s first DOCG in 1996, and the rules are strict.  There must be at least 3,250 vines per hectare (ha), and even during the worst droughts, growers can only irrigate twice.  No more than 10,00 kg can come from each hectare, and no more than three from a single plant.  There are some very good co-operative wineries in the DOCG, in fact, throughout Sardinia, as well as an increasing number of privately owned wineries, and Piero Mancini founded one of the most important of these private holdings over 30 years ago.

Born in Gallura, Piero went to university and became a dentist is the south of the island.  He stayed in touch with his roots, planting his first vines in the 1960s, and a decade later, purchasing 70 hectares.  He opened his winery in 1989, and shortly thereafter retired from dentistry to devote himself to wine.  Today his sons and daughter run the show.  The family now owns over 100 ha in three parcels in the heart of the Gallura zone; vines are planted on granite that has weathered into fine sand.  The vines use the traditional alberello training (bush vines) and are harvested manually.  No herbicides or pesticides are used in the vineyard.  The grapes ferment in stainless steel with selected yeasts and age in tank until January after the harvest.

Cheese, Fish (white), Fish-full flavored (salmon/tuna), Hors d'oeuvres, Just for Cocktailing, Perfect Aperitif Wine, Shellfish, Vegetables