In 1899 engineer Erminio Sella and lawyer Edgardo Mosca departed from Piedmont towards the land of Sardinia in order to reclaim a vast territory in the locality i Piani, near Alghero, in the province of Sassari, and transform it from pasture to vineyard. Since then those lands have made the history of Sardinian viticulture and, although the property has passed to the Campari Group (in 2002) and, later, to the Moretti family (since 2016), the search for quality has never failed.
Despite the large extension, the winery is increasingly engaged in sustainable and organic viticulture, with the aim of maintaining healthy the biodiversity of the vineyards and, consequently, also the health of the vines themselves. The same vineyards, for example, are interspersed with avenues of oleander, palm trees, maritime pines, eucalyptus and other species of the Mediterranean scrub, covered with grass of various essences also used in the natural fight against the vine parasites. To assess the health of the vineyards, an oasis of five hectares has been created, a work that safeguards all species of local flora and fauna and whose health serves as a litmus test of the general health. Even in the cellar is sought the maximum possible energy savings together with also the water resources ones which represent, historically, a valuable asset, as scarce on the island.
As for the wines produced, the new line born from the collaboration between the winery and the Sardinian designer Antonio Marras, artistic director of Kenzo since 2003, deserves attention. Antonio, who had been asked to design the labels of four new wines, produced with the most representative varieties, went further, creating a real history linked to each of the four bottles. The Catore wine, for example, bears on the label the figure of a Sardinian boxer (Catore) whose name derives from a mix between that of Cassius Clay and that of Tore Burruni, an Alghero citizen who, in 1965, won the fly weights world belt.
The Torbato grapes from which this wine is produced have been carefully selected in a medium-textured vineyard with an important limestone presence, among the 130 hectares of property reserved for this vine. After a careful manual harvest and a very delicate destemming-crushing, the grapes macerated in cold for 24 hours and then fermented and subsequently aged for a little more than 3 months in steel, with a small part in contact with the skins, and another (small) in new barriques. After bottling, it took a few months to rest in glass and then the wine was put on the market.
The 2017 vintage has an intense straw yellow color, with some golden nuances, and an olfactory range that opens on notes of dried apricot, yellow peach, chlorophyll and Mediterranean scrub, followed by bitter oranges jam, chamomile, helichrysum and resin, with conclusive echoes of iodine and marine vegetation. The mouthfeel strikes for its mineral salinity combined with a good roundness, a hint of tannins given by maceration, and an acidity just enough not to imbalance the sip, all enriched by the return taste-olfactory iodine, chlorophyll and yellow fruit that accompany the sip until a good length closure.
Rating: 90/100
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