Sardinia: Sun, Sea, Sand and Alluring WinesOf Italy’s two main island regions, it is undoubtedly Sicily
that has grabbed the lion’s share of the wine spotlight over the last twenty years.
But Sardinia’s many exceptional wines clearly deserve more attention. Sardinia’s
lack of large, moneyed estates, often owned by noble families, that
characterize Sicily’s vinous landscape has hurt the smaller island in the
communications and public relations arena. But the fact remains that Sardinia
offers oenophiles a treasure trove of exciting wines.Based on the latest available data, Sardinia produced
roughly 650,000 hectoliters of wine in 2013, an increase not just on Sardinia’s
2012s production volume (+27%) but also on the 2012 countrywide average (+18%).
Interestingly, Sardinian wine production has been increasing steadily of late, by
an average of 23% annually over the 2008 to 2012 period as compared to a much
more moderate 7% for Italy as a whole. Sardinia produces white and red wine in
roughly equal volume. Furthermore, the island has always been a mecca for sweet
wine production. Sardinia’s penchant for red wine production should not come as
a surprise given that the regional cuisine boasts a wide range of generally hearty
meat preparations in addition to its many delicate fish dishes.Sardinia’s most popular wine is also the island’s only
DOCG, Vermentino di Gallura. At roughly 42,000 hectoliters per hectare produced
each year, it’s the island’s third most important wine in terms of quantity. Vermentino
di Sardegna DOC (at roughly 95,000 hectoliters per hectare) sits at the number
two position in yearly volume, so it is obvious that Vermentino is Sardinia’s most
visible wine, even if the island offers a plethora of other interesting and
unique white wines, too often made in distressingly small quantities. But Sardinia’s
leader in terms of volume (at roughly 105,000 hectoliters per year) has long
been Cannonau di Sardegna.<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1452002165924-vinicontini1-Cover.jpg">The vineyards at Vini ContiniBeyond Vermentino
and Cannonau…Sardinia’s most important white grapes are the
aforementioned Vermentino (the Rolle or Malvoisie Gros Grains of France and
Spain), Nasco (a very old variety that gives lovely dry and sweet wines with
musky notes), Nuragus (a rustic, hardy variety whose wines of typically show a
resiny quality), Semidano (unfortunately on the decline owing to its low
productivity, but the source of Sardinia’s most refined white wine), Vernaccia
di Oristano (completely unrelated to Italy’s other well-known Vernaccia grapes,
it gives Sherry-like wines with an oxidative twist) and Malvasia di Sardegna,
which, like Nasco, is used to make both excellent dry and sweet wines.In addition to Cannonau (a local variant of Grenache),
red grapes common to Sardinia include Carignano (the Carignan of France and
Spain), but there are also small plantings of Cagnulari (which yields
midweight, highly perfumed wines), Bovale Sardo (a sturdy, blending grape),
Girò (increasingly rare but lovely delicate, perfumed sweet red wines), Monica
(delicious midweight wines) and Nieddera (the most perfumed of all of the
island’s reds, it is also used to make lovely rosato wines). Nebbiolo lovers will be surprised to know that
Sardinia is one of the few places where this noble variety also grows
successfully. Wines sporting the Colli della Limbara denominazione are made mainly with this northwestern Italian
native.<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1452002263680-gabbas+2.jpg"> Hillsidevineyards at Gabbas&nbsp;Key Aspects of
Sardinia’s Wine LandscapeIn many respects, Sardinia has it all, and not just
with respect to wine. Without doubt, Italy’s most wildly beautiful beaches are in
Sardinia. Characterized by very fine white sand and crystal-clear pale blue water;
they seem to have been airlifted to the Mediterranean via the Caribbean. Such a
marine-influenced landscape is ideal for producing fresh, crisp light white
wines. However, Sardinia’s hilly, rocky interior offers many other viticultural
possibilities; in fact, the island’s enormous range of different exposures,
slope gradients, geologic formations and microclimates make it a grape-growing
paradise. This diversity of terroirs explains
the large number of wine grape varieties that have long called Sardinia home,
many of which are for the most part completely unknown to the general public. In
fact, most local university researchers hypothesize that at least another hundred
different cultivars growing in Sardinia still await genetic identification.Because Sardinia is a hard-to-reach island in the
middle of the Mediterranean, with a rocky, often inhospitable interior that
makes moving around a chore, Sardinia has always been characterized by highly fragmented
agricultural practices, with a strongly local imprint. The positive effect of
this is that very little genetic contamination has occurred on the island
throughout the centuries. If anything, many of Sardinia’s grape varieties
actually hail from Spain (don’t let the Sardinians hear you say that!), as the
island was under Spanish rule for more than 400 years.But those cultivars have had centuries to adapt and
mutate in response to the island’s many unique microclimates and habitats. This
has led to many different biotypes of the island’s wine grape varieties
appearing over time. For example, it is easy to distinguish between the
Cannonau of Sardinia and the Grenache of Spain, and not just ampelogically but
simply by tasting the wines. Clearly, the extent of mutation hasn’t yet led to differences
in these cultivars as obvious as those found in the Pinot family but it’s
really just a matter of time. Certainly, Cannonau wines made from grapes grown
in the Jerzu area—a grand cru for the variety, in my opinion—are markedly
different, at least to an experienced taster, from those made from Cannonau
grapes grown elsewhere on the island.Although no English-language wine publication has ever
investigated this topic in depth, you should be aware that many of the island’s
quality producers are up in arms about this matter. In fact, at Alberto Loi,
they would like to see legislature passed that will no longer allow Sardinian
estates to plant grapevines from other parts of the island in their own area; for
example, it would no longer be permitted to plant Cannonau vines from around
Cagliari in the area of Jerzu. Alessandro Dettori would like to extend such a
ban to the importation of clonal material from outside Sardinia. He is quick to
point out how roughly 70% of the island’s recent Cannonau plantings are of the
lower-quality Veneto Tocai Rosso biotype. “Wines made from such grapes hardly
speak of the island, its history or its terroir”
he states adamantly.”<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1452002344510-argiolas+3.jpg"> Argiolas's vineyards amid dry growing conditions&nbsp;A Victim of the Success of Vermentino?Unfortunately, all
is not well with the island’s grape varieties. In many respects, Sardinia has
become a victim of the huge success of its Vermentino wines—and, to a lesser
extent, its Cannonaus. Nowadays, producers are increasingly planting Vermentino
to the detriment of many less-known grapes that are capable, in the right
hands, of giving very high-quality wines. For instance, the Semidano variety
gives more complex and refined wines than Vermentino, and Nasco has plenty to
say as well, yet planted acreage of each is steadily declining. Cannonau, on
the other hand, has seen its plantings increase since 2007.Even allowing for significant errors
in the collection of grape data, which is always a possibility in Italy, where
the experience of those gathering data is often questionable, the heavy
emphasis on the usual suspects does not bode well for the future of wine
production on the island. That’s because if and when the
Vermentino craze dies out or weakens, producers may well find themselves left with
a lot of young Vermentino vines of no interest to anyone.<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1452006912292-dettori+1+rocky+soil.jpg">Rocky terrain and wild flowers are often found in the vineyards at&nbsp;Tenute DettoriRecent VintagesWeather conditions
varied widely throughout Sardinia during the 2012 growing season. Western
Sardinia recorded much higher than usual rainfall and cooler temperatures,
while the southern part of the island benefited from much sunnier, warmer
weather. Nasco and Malvasia wines are best, while Cannonau vines were affected
by berry shatter and millerandage.
The 2012 vintage was marked by one of the driest Junes of the last ten years; August
was dry and torrid as well, but late July rainstorms (especially in northern
Sardinia) helped replenish the low water reserves. Overall, 2012 is a vintage
that favors red wines in Sardinia, even if its intensely colored, rich wines
generally lack the supple tannins and complexity of the best years. September
thunderstorms in the Gallura (a high-quality Vermentino production zone) caused
significant damage to the vines and plagued the harvest.The 2011 vintage
was quite good in Sardinia, with conditions characterized by a warm spring and
early summer and little or no disease pressure, unlike 2010. Cooler-than-average
temperatures and some rainfall prevented water stress, while a hot, dry August led
to a slightly early, uneventful harvest. Much like in 2012, Vermentino suffered
from a flowering hampered by early-season rains.&nbsp;





































































In my opinion,
2010 is a great vintage in which the only issue is very low yields. It’s a year
of generally highly perfumed white and red wines (especially Carignano,
Cannonau and Monica) with lively acidity, noteworthy refinement and excellent ageworthiness.
Quality was all over the place in 2009 because of an extremely hot summer followed
by copious rainfall in September and October. The better reds are soft and
showy but lack the depth and texture of great vintages.You Might Also Enjoy<a target="_blank" href="http://vinous.com/articles/sicily-the-challenge-of-turning-great-potential-into-great-wines-dec-2015">Sicily: The Challenge of Turning Great Potential Into Great Wines</a>, Ian D'Agata, December 2015 <a target="_blank" href="http://vinous.com/articles/campania-made-in-italy-sep-2015">Campania: Made in Italy</a>, Ian D'Agata, September 2015 <a target="_blank" href="http://vinous.com/articles/new-releases-from-the-marche-something-for-everyone-jul-2015">New Releases from the Marche: Something for Everyone</a>, Ian D'Agata, July 2015<a target="_blank" href="http://vinous.com/articles/the-wines-of-abruzzo-and-molise-may-2015">The Wines of Abruzzo and Molise</a>, Ian D'Agata, May 2015--Ian D'Agata

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