From: Sardinia, Italy
Varietal: Cannonau (Grenache)
Taste & Critical Acclaim: The wine has a translucent and brilliant ruby red color with a garnet hue that announces intense, bright aromas. This amazingly delicious vintage starts with crunchy red fruits and rosy hibiscus hues. From there, it gains depth and evolves into darker berries like blackberry and bing cherry, accented with baking spice and mocha undertones. A fantastic wine that’s lovely and polished.
94 James Suckling
Clean and focused with blackberry and dark-bark aromas and flavors. Medium to full body and firm, creamy tannins with length and focus. Lavender and berries with chocolate undertones. Very polished and flavorful. Drink or hold.
91 Wine Enthusiast
The nose begins bright and light, with aromas of cranberry and hibiscus, then turns darker and richer with plums, tobacco and a swirl of chocolate and vanilla. Figs and a potent florality underscore the plum note on the palate, before the chocolate current swells into a tidal wave on the finish.
Pairing: Large portions of land on the Italian isle of Sardinia are used for grazing sheep as a source of meat, milk, and cheese, so lamb dishes and sheep’s milk cheeses follow as a natural pairing for this wine. For today’s pairing, we suggest the following recipe for Sardinian Lamb with Fennel, which serves 4-6 people and can be served with couscous or good bread.
About. In 1899 two Piedmontese adventurers (and brothers-in-law), Vittorio Sella, an engineer, and Edgardo Mosca, a lawyer, seized the opportunity to establish a wine estate on land bordering the pretty, historic port of Alghero on the northwestern coast of Sardinia. Sella and Mosca started a nursery for wine grape rootstocks on their new land as the devastating Phylloxera tick from North America spread throughout Europe like wildfire. However, the pest did not spread across the ocean to Sardinia, which allowed Sella and Mosca to sell the pest-free baby vines they were creating to regions of Italy and southern Europe as they worked to replant vineyards. Meanwhile, in 1903 the estate excavated its rocky soils to plant vines and build a complex including the winery, worker housing, a school house, a small church, and 12.5 acre nature preserve maintained for Mediterranean botanical species.
Today, Sella & Mosca’s 1600-acre estate (which contains 1200 acres of vines) is one of the largest in Europe. Sardinians reportedly take great pride in the prestige of the winery, which makes a point to respect the celebrate the cultural context and environment in which it is situated. Its logo, for example, (as seen in gold at the bottom of the Cannonau di Sardegna Riserva label) centers Sella & Mosca within humankind’s long history of winemaking. It is modeled after a relief of a wine pressing scene uncovered within the mastaba tomb of a powerful man named Mereruka, who lived in in Saqqara, Egypt during Ancient Egypt’s 6th Dynasty (c. 2345-2181 BCE). The scene depicts five men using long poles to press the grapes contained in a sack, so that the juice filters through the fabric and falls into the jar below.
In fact, Sardinia does have a long history of winemaking dating back to just a few centuries after Ancient Egypt’s Old Kingdom; in 2002 archaeological evidence surfaced finding preserved Cannonau seeds on the island dating back to 1200 BCE when Phonecian culture prevailed. This evidence affirmed Cannonau di Sardigna as a distinct varietal indigenous to Sardinia. The grape is extremely closely related to Garnacha/Grenache, and is likely the original grape that became Garnacha when it was introduced to Spain while Sardinia was under Aragón rule (1297-1713). This late-ripening varietal thrives in hot, dry conditions, and is now the most planted grape in Sardinia.
The grapes that went into Sella & Mosca’s 2019 Cannonau di Sardegna Riserva come from vineyards in the province of Alghero, which is known as the “Coral Riviera”. Alghero’s landscape, sea life, and coral jewelry reflect a unique bright red color; Coral was also known as “Sardinian Gold” since it was a means of exchange for ancient traders. The area’s Mediterranean soul is reflected in the gold and coral red amulet that graces the label of this bottle. The sun-kissed vines witness warm diurnal temperatures moderated by sea breezes, which helps yield concentrated Cannonau, rich in acidity and primary aromas.
The average age of the vines is 18 years, and the grapes underwent fermentation on their skins in stainless steel vats at controlled temperatures. After pressing, the wine was aged for six months in large casks of Slavonian oak and cellared for two years before release.