This is the third in a series of posts capturing my experiences visiting the family winemakers we represent.
Part 1: Villa Corniole – an introduction to the Pellegrini family and “heroic” viticulture
Part 2: A Visit to Pietro Nera: 3 Generations of Heroic Viticulture
Leaving behind the Italian Alps spanning Trentino to Valtellina, we drove to Milan and flew to Sardegna, also known as Sardinia. Sardegna is an island to the west of the Italian peninsula, just to the south of the French island of Corsica. We were off to visit Audarya, our star producer in Sardegna, just a 30 mile drive north of Cagliari on the south shore of the island.
Sardegna is a trending topic in the wine and travel world, because of its status as a “blue zone”, one of five areas in the world with the highest concentration of centenarians, or people who live beyond 100 years. Common factors in blue zones include a healthy diet with lots of plant-based ingredients, active lifestyle, strong connections with family and community, and moderate alcohol consumption. The staple grape in red wine, Cannonau (genetically similar to Grenache/Garnacha), has 2-3 times the amount of flavonoids associated with good artery health.
Beyond the blue zone factor, Sardegna has a lot to offer in the wine world, as it is still less discovered than many other regions, and good value in wine abounds. While Cannonau and the white Vermentino grape are more well known, there are many local and indigenous varieties that are food friendly, and offer great value.
Arriving in Sardegna, we headed straight for the beach in Cagliari. The water offered a turquoise blue color similar to the Caribbean, with Sella del Diavolo, a saddle-shaped group of hills, overlooking the water. The beach was a great place to enjoy Audarya’s Nuragus and Vermentino with pasta and fried seafood.
Left: the hills of Sella del Diavolo; center and right: Nuragus and Vermentino with a view. Photo credits: Chrisa Giorgi
The next morning, we were greeted by Nicoletta Pala, who along with her brother Salvatore, own Audarya. I had met Nicoletta in early 2020, just before the pandemic, at the Gambero Rosso Tre Bicchieri roadshow in New York City. We planned a meeting in Sardegna for June 2020, but the pandemic had other ideas. In the meantime, we would taste Audarya’s wines together via Zoom, and Wide Roots launched Audarya’s wines in December 2020 when our wholesale license was granted. We would reorder multiple times, as the reception to the wines was very good.
The prior 15 months flashed before me as I saw Nicoletta get out of the car. She greeted us warmly and I said, “Finalmente!” (Finally!) We drove north, and enjoyed the views of the vineyards and the area surrounding the winery. Shrubs and flowers lined the road on either side, creating a beautiful and relaxing ride to the winery–and dare I say, it probably lowered my heart rate, perhaps another factor behind the blue zones…(?)
The heat in Sardegna was dry but firm as we walked through the vineyards. Nicoletta walked us through the vines her grandfather Salvatore had planted in the 1940s. Nicoletta, her brother Salvatore, and her father Enrico have a passion and dedication to the indigenous and traditional grapes of southeast Sardegna. While they grow and vinify plenty of the staple Cannonau and Vermentino, their commitment to expressing local traditions shows in the quality of their wines made from white grapes like Nuragus, Nasco, and Malvasia di Sardegna; along with the red grape Monica–the source of the everyday drinking wine in this part of Sardegna, even with seafood and poultry.
Entering the cantina, I would meet Salvatore and Enrico, who greeted the scruffy-looking importer from Maryland whom they hadn’t yet met with a warmth and enthusiasm. We walked through the cellar, observing the stainless steel and cement tanks where the vast majority of their wine is aged; then into the barrel room, where only the “Nuracada” Bovale, winner of multiple coveted Tre Bicchieri awards from Gambero Rosso, is aged. Nicoletta, Salvatore, and Enrico believe in minimal cellar intervention to express a true version of their terroir in southeast Sardegna–reflected in the name “Audarya”, a Sanskrit word meaning “nobility of the soul”. Audarya’s wines are also 100% of the labeled grape variety; with Cannonau in particular, many winemakers will blend a small portion of Bovale into the wine to give it more intensity, and may also sometimes use oak aging.
Walking out of the cantina to go to lunch, we met Beatrice, Salvatore’s wife, and their young son Tommy. At that moment I reflected and wondered if there would be a time in 20 years that I would be meeting with Tommy as the future generation of Audarya winemaking.
We enjoyed a decadent multi-course lunch with Nicoletta, including staple dishes of the area that included snails, eggs with truffles, sweetbreads, and culurgiones. Somehow, we made it back to the cantina to taste wines together. Audarya is expanding their product line to include a dry Nasco, which is currently made into a sweet late-harvest wine; I also tasted their aromatic Malvasia di Sardegna. The “Camminera” is a slightly more aged version of their Vermentino, showing some developed nutty characters along with the citrus and saline notes typical of their Vermentino.
The red wines of Audarya have a special fruit character, one that reflects their unique terroir. The fruit shows brightness and ripeness at the same time; a character that I experience as “Mediterranean”, but still a very unique profile. The days are long and sunny, but sea breezes and a mistral wind keep the vines and the grapes from getting overly warm. Audarya’s philosophy of minimal cellar intervention allows these unique characters to come out. Both the Monica and the Cannonau also exhibit herbal notes that make them very interesting with food.
We are pleased to have a collaboration with the Pala family and Audarya. I can’t recommend enough a visit to Sardegna, and I look forward to making many more trips there.
Audarya Cantina; view of the vineyards from the tasting room; the barrel room for Nuracada Bovale, with a special storage area for past vintages in the back (photo credit: Russ Lorber); the family behind Audarya – Nicoletta, Enrico, Beatrice, and Salvatore (photo credit: Audarya)