Mapping the sparkling wines of Italy: Sardegna

After mapping Champagne and the sparkling wines of France on a single chart, I set my sights on Italy; and quickly realized that this would be a huge task. First, it was not a one-charter and, second, it would have to be addressed from the regional (20 of them) level up. So, with some trepidation, I began this journey in November (2019) with a post on the sparkling wines of Piemonte. And, finally, here I am, with my final post in the series: the sparkling wines of Sardegna.

Sardegna, one of Italy's five autonomous regions, is the second largest island in the Mediterranean. The region's topography is diverse, comprised mostly of hills which are complemented by mountains, plains and coastal areas. The economy has historically been non-industrial with most of the population engaged in agriculture (corn, vines, olives, fruits, vegetables), pastoral farming (sheep, goats, cattle), fishing (tunny, anchovies, lobster), and salt extraction. The government has recently launched initiatives to increase the contribution of tourism and light industry to the region's economy.

Grape-growing and winemaking are less prominent on Sardegna than they are on other Italian regions. As a matter of fact, only a small amount of the available land is dedicated to grape-growing and, as a result, the island has the lowest wine production of any Italian region. This cultural and identity gap with mainland Italy is further illustrated by the fact that the dominant grape varieties are Cannonau (Grenache) and Carignano, two varieties associated with France and Spain.

The soils and bedrock are a mix of granite, limestone, sandstone, minerals, rich clays, free-draining sands, gravels, and volcanic deposits. The vineyards resident on these soils are mostly concentrated on the western side of the island.

The red varieties Cannonau and Cargnano comprise 50% of the island's plantings with another 25% devoted to the white variety, Vermentino. Cooperatives play a very important role in the production of wine on the island.

The below chart details Sardegna's DOC sparkling wines.

Some points of note:

• Seven of Sardegna's 18 DOCs allow at least one sparkling wine in their appellation
• Three of the seven appellations are island-wide while a fourth covers 1/3 of the island
• Only one of the DOCs (Vermentino di Gallura) specifies a metodo classico sparkling wine
• With one exception (Spumante Bianco in Alghero DOC), all of the sparkling wines are varietal.

**********************************************************************************************************
I have enjoyed this journey and will, in the near future, combine all of the regional posts into a single, overarching post on the sparkling wines of Italy.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme