Santadi

The vines of Sardina arrived from various lands around the Mediterranean to make the island the most idiosyncratic wine region of Italy. Phoenicians, Carthaginians and Romans introduced varieties that are still grown today, though the majority of Sardina’s vines trace their roots to Spain, whose conquistadores arrived in the 13th century. Carignano come from Aragon, where it is known as Carinena, though it enjoys its greatest popularity in southern France as Carignan. Jancis Robinson, in Vines, Grapes and Wines, wrote that Carigna “probably produces more red wine than any other variety in the world” noting that it is extremely productive and makes wine of “low-mid quality.” Carignan proliferated in the arid coastal plains and islands of Sulcis in southwestern Sardinia, where it was long prized as a powerful blending of wine. But when bulk wine markets dwindled in the 1980s, growers of the cooperative at Santadi reduced yields and refined cellar techniques to produce Carignano del Sulcis worthy of a DOC. Selections were bottled under the names Tre Torri and Rocca Rubbia Riserva. With the 1984 vintage, Terre Brune was created by belnding Carignano with a bit of the local Bovaleddu matured in small barrels of French oak. Terre Brune, names for the burnished color of the soils of Sulcis, has been further refined by winemaker Piero Cella and consultant Giacomo Tachis to bring Cargnano to new heights of style, concentration, longevity, and prestige. The Cantina Sociale Santadi, led by progressive-minded President Antonello Pilloni, groups 250 growers with some 550 hectares of vines to produce about a million bottles a year of wines of admirable quality and reasonable price. Among them are DOC Vermentino di Sardegna Cala Silente and Nuragus di Caliari Pedraia and the IGT white Villa di Chiesa (vermentino and chardonnay) and red Araja (carignano and cabernet). Carignano del Sulcis DOC Baie Rosse is made in collaboration with the nearby Cantina Sociale di Calasetta.