2009 Valli di Porto Pino Shardana

Simply put, when it comes to red wines this is one of Italy’s two or three best social cooperatives. In fact, there aren’t even many family-run estates anywhere in the country that make two reds with the stature of Santadi’s Rocca Rubia and Terre Brune Carignano bottlings. That's no small feat, given the fact that this coop oversees more than 600 hectares of vines and produces roughly 1.7 million bottles of wine each year. One of the secrets to quality here is that the coop’s members own some of the best, oldest Carignano vineyards planted on the sandy soils of the Sulcis, where this variety is elevated to another quality level, far removed from bland examples long associated with other Mediterranean countries.