Each Saturday, David Brenner of Villasfor2 in Abruzzo selects a delicious, top-value 'Everyday Italian Wine’ for you to try at home - or enjoy on your Abruzzo holiday !

Cannonau di Sardegna. Jerzu. 2005
Another heritage Italian red for you this week, with the Cannonau grape cultivated in Sardinia for hundreds of years after its introduction to the island by the Spanish in the 15th century. Like the Primitivo we reviewed a couple of weeks back, Cannonau is another of those perhaps unfamiliar grape varities you'll actually have come across before. With Primitivo, the better-known alter ego was Zinfandel. With Cannonau, the famous twin is Grenache - the red grape of the Rhone region in France. 

Grenache is more normally used as a 'blender' grape to pass on its renowned strength and while Cannonau di Sardegna can contain up to 10% of other varities, Jerzu use 100% Cannonau, softening the bite with between 7 months and a year in wood and up to a further couple of years in bottle. After that - drink it, because this isn't a wine for long keeping.

This bottle of the 2005 vintage was just about perfect. Pull the cork and you get a solid waft of sun-baked Sardinian hillside - thyme and wild herbs. In the glass, there's that give-away Grenache paleness - a ruby red, rather than the darker depths of the Montepulciano d'Abruzzo and Primitivo we've already tried. And the taste overlays those initial herby notes with juicy red cherries and mulberries. The finish is quite dry and pleasantly tannic. 

This is a wine that's made to drink with food. In Sardinia, it's teamed with roast lamb, roast kid and roast suckling pig, fragrant with those local herbs. Cannonau also goes perfectly with a big plate of salami; or a chunky, garlicy pate; or char-grilled meat, straight off the barbecue. For UK readers - here's the perfect wine for the Great British Banger and English mustard !  Essentially, Cannonau's the red to reach for when you need that dry, tannic finish to cut through rich, strong flavours. That said, it's a strangely good accompaniment too to plain roast chicken !

At A Glance…

• This week's featured wine: Cannonau di Sardegna
• Producer: Jerzu
• Vintage: 2005
• Designation: DOC. (You can also find good Cannonau made by small local co-ops, rather than a single producer, carrying the IGT - Indicazione Geografica Tipica -  designation. This'll be a degree or so lower in strength, but doesn't automatically denote an inferior wine)
• Grape: 100% Cannonau
• Strength: 13.5% vol
• Closure: Cork
• This bottle cost: €3.99

Vitivinicola Antichi Poderi Jerzu
Jerzu is a town in eastern Sardinia - rather than a trade name - and is essentially a major co-op, sourcing its grapes from the region's 'Antichi Poderi', or 'ancient small farms'. Set up soon after the end of World War II, Jerzu is now a major player in the island's wine trade, with an important catalogue which - along with Cannonau - also includes Sardinia's trademark 'Vermintino' white grape in addition to dessert wine, grappa and balsamic vinegar. You might come across 'Isara' - a good Grenache rose; 'Jerzu Brut' - an interesting Vermentino/Chardonnay sparkler; and (perhaps inevitably) a Cannonau/Vermentino blend marketed under the 'Sa Costa' label. There's a lot more information on the Jerzu winery and its products to be found here.

If you like Italian wine, why not check out last week's 'Everyday Italian Wine' - and bookmark this site for future weekly posts !

(Click on pictures in text for larger images)

Next week: Prosecco di Conegliano-Valdobbiadene - Italy's favourite fizz for you to try at home - or on your Abruzzo holiday !  

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 8th, 2008 at 6:07 am and is filed under David's 'Everyday Italian Wine', Eating and Drinking, Vineyards. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.