Argiolas Turriga – Looking Back at an Italian Icon:  2012-1988   

Turriga is Sardinia’s most famous wine, and also one of Italy’s best reds. A blend of roughly 85% old vine Cannonau (the Sardinian version of Grenache), with small percentages of Carignano, Bovale Sardo and Malvasia Nera that vary from vintage to vintage, Turriga is a big, powerful and age-worthy wine that showcases extraordinarily well just how good the wines of southern Italy can be.

Antonio Argiolas and Mariano Murru

Argiolas is a hallowed name in Italy, and so it should be. Francesco Argiolas first planted his vineyards at the turn of the 20th century, but the estate really took off with the arrival at the helm of Antonio Argiolas (born in 1906), one of the true grand old men of Italian wine. From the beginning, in his mind Turriga was to be the wine that would demonstrate to the world just what Sardinia could achieve, a great red wine that was both modern and traditional, one that could compete with the best Barolos and Brunellos. At the same time, it had to maintain a specifically Sardinian and Mediterranean imprint. In order to achieve a suitably important wine, Argiolas turned to none other than Giacomo Tachis, one of Italy’s most respected winemakers and the father of an almost infinite number of Italian great reds, from Sassicaia to Tignanello, from Le Pupille’s Saffredi to Santadi’s Terre Brune and Castello dei Rampolla’s Sammarco and d’Alceo. Mariano Murru, Argiolas’ immensely knowledgeable technical director (who apprenticed under Tachis) is now the man in charge of winemaking, making Turriga stronger than ever (although, in my opinion there was a brief spell when the wine was too marked by dark fruit aromas and flavors, somewhat reminiscent of Bordeaux varieties).