2014 Vermentino di Sardegna Stellato

The Pala estate probably makes Sardinia's best Nuragus wine, but it’s a red wine that had Fabio Angius, Pala’s talented general director, especially excited this year. "We bought a 2.7-hectare plot located in Terralba, the southern part of the province of Oristano," said Anguis. "The vines here are roughly 45 years old, planted on sandy soils, ungrafted. We’re especially excited because the age of these Bovale Sardo vines means that they were planted with one of the original island biotypes, and not Carignano, which is what nurseries have been sending people when they ask for Bovale Sardo. This was done in perfectly good faith, of course, because for the last 30 years or so everyone believed the two varieties to be identical. Whether that’s true or not is still being debated, but there is no doubt that the old-vine Bovale Sardo such as ours behaves differently than Carignano and gives altogether different wines. So we’re looking forward to seeing what we come up with.”