Isola dei Nuraghi

Styles

Principal grape varieties

Terroir

• The production zone coincides with the whole of Sardinia, the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, with a surface area of 24,090 square kilometres.
• The average annual rainfall is 775 millimetres, but its distribution is irregular: in the inland areas of the centre-north it reaches 1,000 mm per year, while in the coastal zones and plains it does not exceed 600 mm, falling as low as 400 mm in the southernmost part of the island.
• The most frequent wind blowing over Sardinia is the Maestrale, driven by westerly airflows drawn from the Atlantic towards Mediterranean low-pressure systems.
• The oldest geological formations are the granitic ones, characteristic of Gallura, while the central part of the island features metamorphic schistose rocks; the dolomitic limestones of the Nurra di Alghero, the Sarcidano mountains, Oliena, and Monte Albo near Orosei belong to the Mesozoic era.
• The soils fall into alluvial, calcareous, trachytic, basaltic, schistose, and granite-weathering types, with a composition that reflects the underlying parent rock formation.

• Archaeological excavations in Sardinia have brought to light carbonised grape seeds dating to 1300 BC, attesting to a wine culture that predates the arrival of the Phoenicians between the ninth and eighth centuries BC.
• The Carta de Logu of Eleonora d'Arborea, a legal code of 1392 that remained in force until the Piedmontese period, contained provisions against the trade of wild grapes, with penalties including fines and imprisonment.
• At the end of the nineteenth century, Cettolini recorded on scientific grounds the high planting density of 7,000–7,600 vines per hectare, a density still found in the oldest vineyards capable of producing wines of great quality.
• Traditional Sardinian vineyards are trained as free-standing bush vines (alberello) or set up as counter-trellis systems, pruned to Guyot or spur-cordon, in order to limit vine vigour.

Facts drawn from the specification's terroir-link section by automatic interpretation — see the source.

All appellations in Italy

Sources

• eAmbrosia register (EU) — File number PGI-IT-A1140
• Official trade body site — Laore Sardegna