Capichera's Vermentino comes off the granite hills of Gallura, in the north of Sardegna, and it is the wine that taught a lot of people what the grape can do when it is not treated as a light quaffer. The estate picks its best bunches for this one, and the result is a white with weight and a stubborn streak of its own.
- Vermentino, the white grape of Sardegna's granite north.
- Isola dei Nuraghi IGT, the island-wide designation.
- 2021, a vintage of ripe, healthy fruit across the island.
- 14% abv, high acidity, medium body, dry.
How it is made
Vermentino is a late-ripening grape that keeps its acid even in the Sardinian heat, which is why the island's whites taste fresher than their alcohol suggests. Isola dei Nuraghi is a broad IGT covering the whole island, so the wine sits outside the stricter Gallura DOCG rules. Capichera has always worked this way, treating Vermentino as a serious grape rather than a simple one.
How it tastes
Citrus and white peach up front, then green almond and a saline note that comes from vineyards close to the sea. Bitter herbs on the finish, the signature of the grape. High acidity holds the 14% in place, so it reads dry and firm rather than soft.
Where it comes from
Gallura, the granite corner of northern Sardegna, where the soils are poor and the wind off the coast keeps the vines dry. The appellation takes its name from the nuraghi, the Bronze Age stone towers that still stand across the island.
Good to know
Vermentino is grown in Piemonte, Liguria and the south of France under the name Rolle, but nowhere gives it the saline, bitter-herb edge it takes from Sardegna's coastal granite. The nuraghi the appellation is named for were built more than three thousand years ago, and thousands of them are still standing.
