Guest writer Andrew Catchpole reports from a visit to Sardinia, Italy's last wine frontier.





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   ANDREW CATCHPOLE has a passion for food that was sparked by the hawker stalls of a childhood spent in Southeast Asia. Later he discovered whisky, beer and wine, and worked for several years on Harpers Wine & Spirits and as the Daily Telegraph wine correspondent. Andrew is now a freelance writer on drink, food and travel.

Italy's last wine frontier

by Andrew Catchpole, 2008

"Ciao Andrew, how are you finding it in Disneyland?" chuckled Fabio Angius as I took his call. "Have a good time but soon we'll show you the real Sardinia!" Peering out over the frothy brim of my sensationally priced cappuccino I hoped he was right. For prosaic reasons I'd spent a couple of nights based in the surreal millionaire's playground of the Costa Smeralda before launching myself on a tour of the island's wineries with Pala winery's energetic Fabio as the 'man on the ground'. I was hungry to begin.

Away from the resorts of the Costas Sardinia is a rugged, craggy island, independent spirited with traces of the Sardi or shepherd culture still evident as flocks are herded across isolated roads.

This is matched in the flavours of the robust, seasonal cuisine and an indigenous tradition of winemaking as diverse as any on the Italian mainland.
  

But whereas a taste of the food has begun to filter through to my native London via high-end restaurants such as Oliveto, Sardo and most recently Terranostra, the sometimes excellent wines have gained little recognition beyond a clutch of Italian eateries and specialist importers. For the first time a group of leading winemakers have banded together with the aim of raising the profile of Sardinian wine.

Lie of the Land

Slung way out on a limb in the Mediterranean, as close to Africa as the boot of Italy, Sardinia has viticultural history as mixed as its past. The soils alone, ranging from granitic and volcanic to calcareous and sandy clay, take their cue from 600 million years ago when this island split from southern Europe - unlike the Italian mainland that formed from the African continent. As the Sards delight in pointing out, this is not Italy. But occupying a strategic position in the middle of the Mediterranean brought with it a predictable roster of invaders and traders, including Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Moors, Catalans and even Austrians, most leaving behind a legacy of their cuisine and favoured grapes. And it's a mix of this diverse legacy found in the vineyards, geological smorgasbord and favourably stable Mediterranean climate that delivers the potential for superb and individual wines.
  

The Vines

Vineyards are found almost everywhere from the gentler southern soils through the volcanic and granitic heart of the island to the varied topography of the north. Sardinia is best known for its red Cannonau, a relative of the Grenache or Garnacha of southern France and Spain, but a variety hotly contested as indigenous after centuries of adaptation since the Catalan's first brought it here. A flexible variety, it produces wines that range from simple, juicy, red-fruit packed crowd pleasers to far more intense, well-structured, mineral and herb-tinged examples depending on where it is cultivated.

The Catalans also introduced Carignano, Giro and Torbato, the latter being resurrected and notably produced as an aromatic, full-bodied single varietal white by Sella & Mosca near the still Catalan-speaking town of Alghero. Sangiovese, Nebbiolo and Trebbiano were later arrivals, probably from Piedmont in the early C20, followed by international migrants including Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay.


   Vermentino (left) is the best-known white, familiar on the mainland for its crisp, citrussy character, but achieving an added mineral-lined complexity in the Vermentino di Gallura DOC in the northeastern province of the same name. Vermentino came via Corsica during the C18, whereas the other main white, Vernaccia, is believed to have arrived with the Greeks or Phoenicians and is best established in the southern province of Oristano.

Nasco and Moscato, making some incredibly fresh and enticing sweet wines, came with the Romans, while Malvasia was planted during Byzantine times.

The Wine Industry Today

Before the twin hits of phylloxera and a breakdown in commercial relations with France in the 1880's Sardinia had 70,000ha under vine. Today this figure stands around 30,000ha and, with the impetus of a growing number of quality-focussed producers, the bad old days of bulk production heading north and fairly indiscriminate production from varietally mixed vineyards is being reversed as producers and growers better understand the potential of their vines and have begun bottling their own wine. There are as yet relatively few estates realising the potential and making wines that hold their own in the international arena and perhaps one, Sella & Mosca, which can boast truly international recognition. But this is changing and on my recent visit I found many wines that deserve to be better known.

go to Part II, a profile some of Sardinia's leading producers and their wines.