Sedilesu Cannonau Sartiu 2015, Sardinia, Italy

A sincere, outgoing, convivial red wine. It pairs well with simple dishes, such as pasta with tomato sauce and grated pecorino cheese. Medium intense ruby red in colour with light garnet hints the wine’s bouquet displays ripe red fruit (cherry and sweet redcurrants). It is medium-bodied and tannic to the right degree with a fresh, harmonious texture and hints of ripe red fruit and some spicy notes.

The 2015 vintage of Sartiu is an easy-to-drink, quaffable wine whose alcohol levels are moderate and not overwhelming, even though it is 14.5% abv. It appearance can mislead you - you notice fairly light ruby colour and expect something lighter in body and flavours too - but it is not true with this wine, it will definitely surprise you, offers more richness than expected.

Highly recommended and not only by us! As seen on TV, Jamie Oliver presented this wine in his Super Food programme as Sardinian wine rich in phenolics and antioxidants. 

Wine facts:

• organic, vegan
• grapes: Cannonau
• sugar: 0 added sugar, residual sugar <2 g
• sulphites: low sulphites <19 mg
• ABV 14.5%   

Viticulture: the grapes are manually-harvested in October from organically-farmed vines of different ages (some are one-hundred years old, others over fifty-years-old, and some are young vines between three and fifteen years-old). The vines are planted at a height of 600 metres above sea level in soil containing decomposed granite, which is mixed with some sand and clay.  The grapes are de-stemmed and placed in 125-Hecto-Litre Stainless Steel tanks for fermentation; the wild yeast-triggered fermentation and maceration takes twelve days to complete and fermentation temperature was  controlled to range between 20°C and 34°C. The wine is neither filtered nor fined and malolactic fermentation took place.  The wine is transferred into both cement tanks and large oak to age for 24 months. Sulphur is added at the beginning of the fermentation.

This wine is one of our Organic Stars! Read more in our organic red wine review.

Location: In the village of Mamoiada in the central-Eastern province of Nuoro in Sardinia.

Why Sartiu? Su Sartiu refers to a sequence of steps in the folkloristic dance called “Ballu Tundu” that is practised in Mamoiada, and in other villages of the Barbagia area, during the most important festivities such as the St. Anthony’s fire or Carnival