We should all be grateful that there are still untouched, authentic, and genuine places in Italy.
The holiday side of Sardinia is well known, with its Caribbean-like beaches, turquoise sea, and magnificent yachts. Few, however, know its wild, inland side. Before the Gennargentu mountain range fades into the Campidano Oristano area, we encounter a rolling, mountainous, green region, sparsely populated for long stretches: the Mandrolisai. A natural jigsaw puzzle nestled among woods, pastures, and vineyards dotted with saplings, some of which are centuries-old, alternating between Cannonau, Monica, and Bovale. The villages are hidden among the wide valleys: Sorgono, Atzara, and Meana, jewels of ancient charm, where man is merely a co-protagonist of the landscape, where peace and silence reign. The area is at the foot of the mountains, between 600 and 900 meters above sea level, with huge temperature variations in summer, even over 25 degrees between day and night.
In these highly sandy soils, the result of granite erosion, the earth is generous, providing optimal nourishment to the vine saplings, allowing for late harvests, in some years even in October. The resulting red wine shares its name with the region, Mandrolisai, and uses a rather unusual winemaking technique. Despite the three main varietals used having different ripening times, they are all harvested at the same time, leaving some overripe and others high in acidity. The result, when combined with intuition and savoir-faire, is extraordinary: a genuine, flavorful, intense, consistent red, rich in alcohol and extracts, yet incredibly drinkable. It accompanies the substantial local table that can never do without the complete trio, appetizer-first-second course: pecorino, aubergines, vegetable fritters, chickpeas, broad beans, cured meats, culurgiones, fregula with courgettes and bacon, porceddu, veal with mushrooms and so on.
New generations are reclaiming winemaking traditions, reinterpreting them in a clearer, more expressive way. This is the case with the Garagisti di Sorgono, with a romantic project that combines passion and technique, without forgetting Fradiles, who first believed in the terroir, and who makes the taste and flavor of wine his key. Indeed, tending the home vineyard is a well-established practice, and many artisanal wines are available in bulk, and these represent the cornerstone for fully understanding the more structured versions.
Mandrolisai is one of the areas where people live the longest in the world, coincidentally a place where red wine is never missing from the table (Professor Antonella Viola, are you reading this?). An unspoiled paradise where life flows peacefully, where people still gather in bars and stop to chat with passersby about this and that, where the joy of simplicity reigns supreme. Everything seems to be preserved by the surrounding mountains, lands that are still mysterious in some ways, inhabited over 5,000 years ago by the Nuragic civilization, which left symbols and signs in the menhirs and fortifications that even today we don’t know, and probably don’t want to fully interpret.
Menhirs at Biru ‘e Concas
Keep it that way, Mandrolisai A Kent’annos! The future is yours.
Valentino Tesi
(July 2023)
