My wine’s terroir (2) – Barbagia, the house of Cannonau

 

Our wines are what they are, not what you want them to be
(Alessandro Dettori)

Duty premise: those who thinking Sardinia imagine only summer and the sea - fantastic, however - or associate it with parties full of glitter and magnum champagne that feature Porto Cervo or Porto Rotondo’s night, could also close it here and stop reading the post.


I said “it could”,  but it’s better that continues, because if it stopped reading it would lose the possibility to know another Sardinia, for me the most authentic and visceral part of this region, that one rich of archaic traditions that sink their genesis in the mists of time, that one of the shepherds, of the nuraghi and the Mamuthones.


Geographical center but also beating heart of this "alternative but not too much" Sardinia is undoubtedly Barbagia, a barren and inhospitable land, almost forgotten by God, full of mountains and numerous ravines that in the past decades, when in the area it was another very flourishing “company” (that based its business on the kidnappings ...), they were often the set chosen by these entrepreneurs to keep their "goods".

Hovewer, Barbagia is also a very interesting area, rich of important and recognized cultural traditions (for example and full of top-level gastronomic products such as the famous and – for many aspects - reviled "casu marzu", a cheese made with sheep ot goat milk that is voluntary left to colonize by the larvae of a particular insect), but for the wine lovers it is above all the house of Cannonau, the place where this grape variety - almost certainly autochthonous even if basing on ampelographic character it’s identical to Grenache, that produces full bodied wines with a "natural" alcohol content almost from the Guinness Book of Records - it expresses its potential at the highest levels.

Someone - at this point in history - could object that Cannonau is cultivated practically throughout the region, from the Sassarese plateaus to the Campidano plains passing through the "sandy" lands of Sulcis. Yes, it’s true, and I also add “with good results and success”.

But it’s only in this area, and above all near Mamoiada town, that Cannonau grape is historically purity vinified and for a series of factors – first of all environmental but also as a result of accurate agronomic and cellar choices - it becomes the same thing with the land from to which it originates, taking on the appearance and character of the locals themselves.

“A good Giant”, I like to call it: gruff, grim, unwavering, strong and powerful but at the same time sweet and silken.

Only inside few other wines in the world I find such a total correspondence with those who produce it, craftsmen who (almost) never seek the limelight but who however carry on their ideas with pride and unwavering conviction.

The phrase that alone explains the creed of an entire community is the one I inserted at the post beginning. The author is a Sardinian winemaker, not coming from these places but at the same time producers of wonderful wines, and in my opinion it represents this "philosophy" on the paper: the wines they make are faithful expression to their land, they have no desire or interest in following fashions or seeking consensus from critics. If you like these wines well, but otherwise it’s not a matter for them, because their most important satisfaction is in carrying on the traditions of the native places, on the wines as well as in every life aspect.

It would seem a simple thing to do, but in a world where everything is business, in a historical moment in which we are able to trample on everything - from our ideals (if we had anything ..) to the people who are close to us in the name of money and of success, the cultural "resistance" of this community - of people before wine producers - has all my respect, my commendation, my admiration.

Bonus Track: 3 labels thay you can't missed


Cannonau Mamuthone - Giuseppe Sedilesu (Mamoiada)

A great classic, a bottle that reveals tradition and typicality, an essential starting point to begin to understand and love the Mamoiada’s wines

Cannonau Riserva Barrosu - Giovanni Montisci (Mamoiada)

The excellence in a bottle. All the character of the people of Barbagia - already expressed in the name Barrosu, - which in local dialect means "stubborn" - combined with a depth and a finesse almost impossible to find in these latitudes.

Cannonau Perdas Longas Reserve - Francesco Cadinu

Rich, structured and multi-faceted. A label produced only during great vintages and in very limited quantities (about 600 bottles / year), capable of narrating, like few others, the authenticity of the land of origin