Argiolas

The promise of Sardinia is epitomized in the wines of Argiolas, the name of the family which in the mid-1980’s courageously transformed its extensive vineyards in a previously unheralded part of the island into proving grounds for the future. Antonio Argiolas, now in his eighties and sons Franco and Giuseppe, kept the faith in varieties that were for the most part local classics. Rather than breaking with Sardinia’s honorable vinous traditions, they revised then with a flair that has had a positive influence on others. Their crowning achievement is Turriga, a red based on Cannonau, Sardinias prime red variety related to the Grenacha of France and Garnacha of Spain. Cannonau makes generally potent reds, usually dry thought also sweet and fortified. Turriga, which includes token amounts of other local varieties and doesn’t qualify as DOC, shows how Canonau’s raw power can be tempered by deft wood aging to become a wine of velvety finesse. Resident wine maker Mariano Murru benefits from the experience of consultant Giacomo Tachis, though the Argiolas family is due most of the credit for a wine created in 1988 that has brought a new sense of style to the island’s reds. Sardinia’s northern and eastern hills were long considered to be the promised land of Cannonau, but Argiolas has shown that the southern sector of the islands can rival them. The estate has 220 hectares of vines around Sardiana and Siurgus Donigala in rolling hills north of Cagliari. They produce about 1.5 million bottles a year of wines that included the highly rated white vini da tavola called Argiolas and sweet Angialis, as well as fine DOC Vermentino di Sardegna Costamolino.