A travel journal from our table

Field notes № 01 · Sardegna

The Wine
Adventure

Sardinia edition

Two wineries, forty-something photographs, and ten days of what Yanni insists was very serious work.

Come along

Vineyard in Mamoiada framed by an old stone wall and blue Sardinian sky — Mamoiada · Northern Sardinia

Yanni, Denise, Simone, Federica, family and friends gathered around the table — The day's real destination

Ten days up north · August 2026

A note from the road

Ten days in, and Sardinia was still just getting started.

We only made it through the north. There were clear coves, granite hills, long lunches, and more good wine than any responsible person could fit into ten days. We tried.

Simone and Federica made room for us at their table. Flaviano walked us through every pour at Surrau. By the time we left, every bottle came with a face, a story, and somebody we hoped to see again. That is usually how a wine earns a place at Yanni's.

Clusters of dark Cannonau grapes under bright green leaves — Cannonau on the vine

Mamoiada · Vike Vike + 'Esole

Surprise,
surprise.

Vike Vike means “surprise, surprise” in the local dialect. Spend an afternoon with Simone Sedilesu and the name starts to make perfect sense.

Simone Sedilesu and Yanni overlooking the vineyard beside a small pink chapel — Simone and Yanni, somewhere between the vines and the next story

The place first

Simone did not start with a sales pitch. He started with the hillside. He walked us through vineyards set high in Mamoiada, where granite soil, altitude, and hard sun shape every vintage.

He started Vike Vike in 2015 after growing up among his family's vines. Today the cellar works just 4.5 hectares organically and makes roughly 25,000 bottles a year. Small production, very personal, and completely tied to the land around him.

Metal gate bearing the Cantina Vike Vike name and tree-topped stone tower mark — Terra, uva e mani

A color-coded vineyard map of the Mamoiada growing area — Mamoiada, parcel by parcel

Mamoiada, one vineyard at a time

Simone put the map on the table and poured the place plot by plot.

Granazza came from one direction, Cannonau from another. Every bottle was tied to a patch of ground Simone knew by heart. Fermentations begin on their own, and the cellar work stays light-handed so the place is still there when the bottle opens.

Simone and Yanni talking beside large wooden fermentation vats — A cellar conversation, glass in hand

Traditional dark Mamoiada masks hanging inside the working winery — Mamoiada keeps watch

A rough-hewn granite sink with wine press and cellar tools behind it — Old stone, working tools

The tasting that became lunch

Lunch turned into one of the best days of the trip.

Simone and Federica welcomed us the way we try to welcome people at Yanni's. Sit down. Have another glass. Meet the family. Stay longer than you planned. Friends stopped in, plates from Mamoiada covered the table, and the conversation wandered from wine to family to what comes next for the next generation.

Federica's winery, 'Esole, carries her own family name in the local dialect and generations of growers. Her wines carry that history with a light touch in the cellar. We are hoping a few of them can make the trip to Scripps Ranch soon.

The full group smiling around a wooden lunch table after the tasting — What began as a tasting ended around the family table

Local cured meats, aged cheese and crisp Sardinian bread on a wooden table — A table centered on Mamoiada

A chilled bottle of Esole Sa Panada white wine on the lunch table — Federica's 'Esole Sa Panada

We arrived to taste wine. We left after Bollonca, a long lunch, and enough goodbyes to know we would be back.

The low modern stone-and-timber facade of Vigne Surrau beneath a clear blue sky — Vigne Surrau · Arzachena

Arzachena · Vigne Surrau

From family cellar
to modern winery.

Surrau was a different scale: stone, timber, glass, and a state-of-the-art cellar underground. Flaviano still made the day feel personal from the first pour.

Above ground / below ground

Gallura sunshine upstairs. Serious winemaking downstairs.

Surrau's vineyards stretch across seven areas around Arzachena, over sandy soils formed by weathered granite. The building mirrors the landscape. The tasting room opens toward the vines. Below it, the cellar stays cool, quiet, and very precise.

Surrau vineyards and granite hills seen through the tasting room windows — The view from the tasting room. Hard day at the office.

Two round glass wine vessels glowing gold in a dark installation — Vermentino, almost luminous

A precise row of stainless steel winery tanks lit from the open doorway — The working floor

Egg-shaped and terracotta wine vessels inside the underground facility — Different vessels, different paths

Flaviano guiding the tour among rows of bottles in the underground cellar — Flaviano, our guide through the cellar and every pairing

Four courses / one glass at a time

Four courses, several pours, and Flaviano keeping Yanni honest.

Lunch looked out over the vines. Flaviano moved us from bright Caricagiola rosato through several expressions of Vermentino and into Cannonau, explaining why each glass belonged with the plate. Yanni asked questions. Denise actually let him finish most of them.

A tasting table set with rows of glasses overlooking the Surrau vineyard — The table before the first pour

Yanni smiling behind a full flight of empty tasting glasses — Ready for the assignment

Denise tasting wine at the Surrau lunch table — Denise, doing the actual research

Flaviano introducing the next wine during the four-course lunch — Guided by Flaviano

The first plated course in a bright tomato sauce with basil — Course one

Yanni raising a glass of Cannonau over a plated course paired with Sincaru — Cannonau, course by course

Yanni smiling behind bottles of Montidimola and Sciala Vermentino di Gallura — A serious mission, obviously

Bottles of Surrau Sole Ruju and Gjola on the tasting table — Two more reasons the tasting ran long

The bottle waiting at home

Vermentino di Gallura, available now.

The wine that connected the whole visit was Surrau's Vermentino di Gallura. It grows in granite-derived sand, with sun, wind, and a saline edge that makes the next sip arrive quickly. It is available at Yanni's right now.

Come try it in Scripps Ranch. We will probably tell you the whole story if you ask. Consider yourself warned.

Come try the Vermentino

The rest of the roll

Sixteen more reasons the camera never made it back into the bag.

Labels, maps, machinery, first pours, and the laughter between them. These are the smaller frames that complete the story.

Five Vike Vike bottles standing above a map of Mamoiada — The lineup and the land

A closer view of the Vike Vike tasting lineup — Granazza and Cannonau, side by side

Close-up of Vike Vike bottle labels from the tasting — The bottles behind the stories

Simone explaining the wines across the tasting table — Simone, mid-story

Simone tasting beside a large wooden fermentation vat — From the vat to the glass

Traditional cured foods hanging above stainless steel cellar tanks — Cellar traditions, still in use

Vike Vike bottles displayed along a sculptural wooden branch — The family of wines

Detailed color map showing vineyard areas around Mamoiada — A closer look at Mamoiada

Simone and Yanni laughing together after the tasting — The part no tasting sheet captures

Yanni and Denise arriving together at Cantine Surrau — Arrival at Surrau

The weathered metal Cantine Surrau sign beside the vineyard — La casa della vigna

Clusters of pale Vermentino grapes beneath green leaves — Vermentino before the bottle

Surrau tasting room with timber beams, bottles and artwork — The bright side of the cellar

Vineyards and olive trees framed by old granite walls — Gallura in stone and vine

Yanni considering a glass beside a bottle of Surrau rosato — A thoughtful first pour

Surrau rosato, water and crisp bread on the lunch table — Rosato at the table

Long vineyard rows climbing toward granite hills in Gallura

North Sardinia · unfinished business

What we will remember
is who pulled up a chair.

We only saw the north, which gives us a perfectly reasonable excuse to go back. Until then, a few of these bottles are making their way to Scripps Ranch. When they arrive, there will be a seat waiting for you.

Come taste what we found at Yanni's