Sardinie - Garnacha

For centuries 'la Sardegna' was dominated by different peoples, in which the Spaniards played a prominent role. Despite this, Sardinia has remained a closed, unique community in Italy. In addition to wine, a lot of vegetables are grown here, with artichoke as a specialty. In addition, it is not the fish, but the sheep that are an important source of income. Sardinia has numerous, spread all over the island, providing the population with cheese, meat, wool and skins.
In Sardinia, too, there has been a realization that there is more honor to be gained with the production of fewer but better wines. The drastic grubbing of entire vineyards is one of the consequences of this. Today, the vineyard area of Sardinia has 43,000 hectares, compared to approximately 63,000 hectares 15 years ago. A relatively large part of the wine produced (in total approximately 800,000 hectoliters and thus the lowest in the whole of Italy) is DOC classified (20%).

More information about Sardinia

In 1996 the region was awarded a DOCG for the Vermentino di Gallura, a pleasantly dry and fresh pale yellow wine with a slightly bitter aftertaste from the northeastern part of Sardinia. Very suitable with various grilled fish and of course with the local pecorino cheese. In total, the region has 19 DOCs and 15 IGTs, the vast majority of which are white wine. The vast majority of wine is produced under the DOC Campidano, in southwestern Sardinia. All wines produced here bear the name of the capital, Cagliari, in the appellation of origin.

A large number of DOC classifications have been awarded to wines of one particular local grape variety, of which Sardinia has many. The DOCs of the Monica, the Cannonau and the Nuragus are the best known of these. This grape variety Vernaccia is Sardinia's pride in the eponymous gold or amber dessert wine Vernaccia di Oristano. A refined sherry-like wine that shows many nuances in smell and taste. Very suitable as an aperitif, as a companion of various hard cheeses (the 'pecorino sardo' is preferred) or hard sweet biscuits.

What about the grapes that are used in Sardinia?

The Nuragus is one of the growing grape varieties. He usually gives a dry, fresh and juicy white wine that does well as an aperitif or as a companion for various grilled fish, but also with stuffed tomatoes and various hard cheeses. The influence of the Spaniards is particularly evident in the use of originally Spanish blue grape varieties such as the Monica, the Carignano and the Cannonau. The latter is said to be a variant of the Garnacha, one of the basic grapes for the Rioja. Cannonau and Monica red wines can be both dry and sweet; while the Carignano only produces dry red wines. An example of this is the Carignano del Sulcis, which comes from the southwestern part of Sardinia, where several separate wine companies have launched the market in recent years with very stylish wines.

Of course the island also offers some very good wines from the Malvasia and the Moscato. From the Malvasia we call the Malvasia di Bosa or Malvasia di Cagliari, both available in sweet and dry varieties. The exclusively sweet Moscato di Sorso Sennori and Moscato di Cagliari come from the Moscato. Both Malvasia and Moscato wines go well with a variety of nut and fruit tarts and hard biscuits.