Santadi Cannonau di Sardegna Noras 2015
-
James
Suckling -
Wilfred
Wong -
Robert
Parker -
Wine
Spectator
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Intense ruby red, verging on garnet with complex notes of ripe blackberries, blueberries, mellow spices, myrtle, tobacco, and chocolate.
Professional Ratings
-
James Suckling
A very attractive Sardinian red that combines great ripe plums with a hot, dry-earth character and has a very food-friendly balance of ripeness and soft tannins. Drink now with autumn or winter dishes.
-
Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: Is this Grenache—Garnacha from Spain—or its Cannonau from Sardegna? Some say that this Italian grape is the same as Grenache, but some are not so sure. The important reality is that the 2015 Santadi Noras Cannonau di Sardegna is quite appealing. TASTING NOTES. This wine is not for the faint of heart; it packs some power. Its aromas and flavors of black fruit, dried tobacco, and savory spices should pair it well with a rosemary-infused, black pepper accented rotisserie leg of lamb. (Tasted: July 24, 2018, San Francisco, CA)
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2015 Cannonau di Sardegna Noras is in fact made with 90% Cannonau and 10% Carignano. This is a terrific mid-level wine that shows good value and an accessible style that makes it perfect for just about any homemade pasta, especially a Sardinian malloreddus alla campidanese: a shell-shaped pasta with a sausage and pecorino ragù. The wine offers pretty primary fruit with blackberry, wild cherry and rose, all backed by subtle smoke and wet earth. This vintage delivers a very ripe, succulent and fruity character. It's good fun all around.
-
Wine Spectator
This round, medium-bodied red is well-knit and balanced, with supple layers of pureed black cherry, plum tart and spiced orange flavor framed by creamy tannins. Elegant. Drink now through 2024.
Other Vintages
2020-
James
Suckling -
Wine
Enthusiast
-
James
Suckling
-
James
Suckling
-
James
Suckling
-
James
Suckling
-
Wine
Spectator
The Sulcis peninsula, in the island’s southwest, is Sardinia’s most ancient area, geologically speaking; rich in archaeological sites and artifacts, its landscape offers an astonishing palette of variations and contrasts. Coastal sand dunes, gentle hills and inlets, narrow strips of flatland and inland mountains, rugged cliffs overhanging the sea interspersed with silky-smooth white beaches, pine trees, junipers and vineyards. In the heart of this unique region is a medieval town called Santadi, poised like a mirage between the dazzling white sand dunes of Porto Pino and the shady quiet forest of Pantaleo, where Sardinian deer tread freely among centuries-old oak trees, cork trees and holly oaks.
Well over half a century ago – it was 1960 – a winery was founded there and named after its extraordinary location: Cantina Santadi or more simply, Santadi. Santadi was based on a partnership of fine local growers, which made it deeply rooted in Sulcis terroir. After a decade and a half establishing a reputation for severe quality standards, Santadi partners elected Antonio Pilloni as their President.
The choice was a fortunate one and in 1975 Pilloni succeeded in bringing the Cantina to international prominence; he remains at the helm today. In the early 1980s, he called on Giacomo Tachis to consult for Santadi.
Santadi and its territory, in fact, are particularly close to Tachis’ heart. As he confessed to Michèle Shah in a Decanter interview: “I’m absolutely passionate about Vermentino [and Carignano]. There are still parts of Sardinia which I consider virgin land: it’s a spectacular island, especially the south, which is the true soul of the island.”
Santadi vineyards cover an impressive 1,235 acres (500 hectares) of prime, gently rolling terrain reaching right out to the sea; all within an 18-mile radius from the winery so that fruit can be conveyed in minimal time. The soil is unique, its sandy nature conducive to the survival of pre-Phylloxera rootstock. In the words of Raffaele Cani: “The parasite does attack the roots, producing small holes in them. These cavities, however, are immediately filled up by grains of sand that heal the wounds, as it were, allowing the plant to thrive
in spite of Phylloxera.”
Grenache thrives in any warm, Mediterranean climate where ample sunlight allows its clusters to achieve full phenolic ripeness. While Grenache's birthplace is Spain (there called Garnacha), today it is more recognized as the key player in the red blends of the Southern Rhône, namely Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Côtes du Rhône and its villages. Somm Secret—The Italian island of Sardinia produces bold, rustic, single varietal Grenache (there called Cannonau). California, Washington and Australia have achieved found success with Grenache, both flying solo and in blends.
Hailed for centuries as a Mediterranean vine-growing paradise, multiple cultures over many centuries have ruled the large island of Sardinia. Set in the middle of the Tyrrhenian Sea, the Phonoecians, Ancient Rome, and subsequently the Byzantines, Arabs and Catalans have all staked a claim on the island at some point in history. Along the way, these inhabitants transported many of their homeland’s prized vines and today Sardinia’s modern-day indigenous grape varieties claim multiple origins. Sardinia’s most important red grapes—namely Cannonau (a synonym for Grenache) and Carignan—are actually of Spanish origin.
Vermentino, a prolific Mediterranean variety, is the island’s star white. Vermentino has a stronghold the Languedoc region of France as well as Italy’s western and coastal regions, namely Liguria (where it is called Pigato), Piedmont (where it is called Favorita) and in Tuscany, where it goes by the name, Vermentino. The best Vermentino, in arguably all of the Mediterranean, grows in Sardinia's northeastern region of Gallura where its vines struggle to dig roots deep down into north-facing slopes of granitic soils. These Vermentino vines produce highly aromatic, full and concentrated whites of unparalleled balance.
Today aside from its dedication to viticulture, Sardinia remains committed to maintaining its natural farmlands, bucolic plains of grazing sheep and perhaps most of all, its sandy, sunny, Mediterranean beaches.