WTI Magazine #71    2015 October, 30
Author : Jennifer Gentile Martin for www.vinotravelsitaly.com      Translation by:

A winery that is rather new, being established in 2002, that I'm sharing with you today is Agricola Punica located on the island of Sardinia, also known as Sardegna. The winery is a joint venture majority owned by Sebastiano Rosa and one of the largest co-ops of Sardinia, Cantina di Santadi. It's also partially owned by wine consultant Giacomo Tachis, Tenuta San Guido and the President of Santadi, Antonello Pilloni.

Located in southwestern Sardinia, Agricola Punica focuses on two native grapes of the island, the red grape carignano used in their wines: Barrua and Montessu, and the white grape vermentino in their Samas wine. Other grapes are also used at Agricola Punica in blending. The climate at the winery and on the island of Sardinia has mild winters and hot summers with the hot winds of Africa, known as the scirocco winds, blowing in off the sea.

Sebastiano Rosa
One of the stakeholders in the company, Sebastiano Rosa, was running behind on his flight so I met his son while at the tasting. Sabastiano has a long history in the wine world participating in the 1991 harvest of Chateau Lafite Rothschild as a cellar assistant. He was also General Manager from 1992-2002 at Tenuta di Argiano in Montalcino where he worked with winemaker and consulting enologist Giacomo Tachis. He led winemaking for Le Difese and Guidalberto from 2002-2012 at Tenuta San Guido, the famous winery known for producing Sassicaia. Today he is now the Director of Marketing and Sales for Agricola Punica.

My choice of the Agricola Punica wines
My favorite wine of the three I sampled (Montessu, Barrua and Samas) was the 2005 Agricola Punica Montessu of the Isola dei Nuraghi IGT. Mostly composed of carignano at 60% with the rest split evenly with syrah, cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc and merlot. It's matured up to 10 months in French oak and blended in cement for 30 days and filtered before bottling for 3 months. A balanced, full-bodied wine with silky rich ripe fruit and jam with a nice finish.

What exactly is the significance of the name Isola dei Nuraghi of the IGT?
This is the largest encompassing DOC of Sardinia covering the whole island and smaller islands. The Nuraghi are stone structures throughout the island that were used as defense during what they call the Nuragic Age. The Nuragic Age took place after the Bronze Age. You can still view and visit these nuraghi today and are part of it's history and culture recognized throughout the island and world, even a UNESCO World Heritage Site.