Sardegna

Well, well, well, look who’s all grown up!  When I first visited Sardinia in 1997 it was a moribund backwater.  Kidnapping had only just come off the register of legitimate pastimes and wine production was dominated by some not very interesting coops.  There was Vermentino in the north, Carignano in the south, and everything else was either undrinkable or Cannonau.

My most recent visit was an absolute eye-opener.  A new generation has travelled the world and come back home to open trendy restaurants and dust off their grandparents ancient vineyards.  I can’t remember being quite so excited about new discoveries as I am about the Young Turks of Mamoiada.  Their wines are concentrated, shockingly good and have a real sense of place.

The island’s enormous potential with mainly sand and granite soils - often at high altitude - planted with a wonderful assortment of indigenous varieties local grapes was just waiting for someone to come and make it happen and in this in this respect it’s not dissimilar to Georgia – Sardinia’s is a story worth telling.  We will be importing more wines from Sardinia – of that I am sure.