Wine regions in Sardinia

As a popular holiday destination, Sardinia is more famous to the majority of people then its wines. While almost all Italy-lovers are well aware of the beautiful azure-blue beaches the island has to offer, when you ask them which specific wines are produced on the island, they often fail to answer. We're happy to present you with Sardinia's lovely wines. And, if you have not visited the island yet, a prettier combination of beach and wine is hardly imaginable.

The wine regions of Sardinia


The island of Sardinia has a great number of different wine regions. Altogether, there are no less than 15 separate areas where grapes are grown and wine is produced. An overview of these wine regions within Sardinia are:


Gallura

Alghero

Arborea

Cagliari

Campidano di Terralba

Sulcis

Bosa

Sorso-Sennori (Sorso o Sennori)

Oristano

Mogoro

Dorgali

Oliena

Capo Ferrato

Jerzu

Tempio Pausania


At Avinturo, you can also find a list of all the 358 wine regions in Italy.

Wine tourism in Sardinia


In Italy, the so called wine consortiums for each wine or wine region are responsible for the promotion and for the quality standards of their wines. This bundling of efforts provides them greater leverage to bring their wine - or their wine region - under your attention.



The Sardinian wine region has three of these Consorzia del Vino:



The individual web pages provide a great starting point to plan your own wine trip, wine weekend or day in the vineyards with tours and tastings. You might also use the wine itineraries below. It will save you a lot of time for figuring them out.

La Strada del vino Cannonau - The offical wine trail for the Cannonau wines

Wine trails in Sardinia


What would be better than to taste regional and local wines by yourself via itineraries that were composed by regional winemakers themselves. In Italy, these so-called 'Strada dei Vini...' are locally based wine trails alongside vineyards with the possibility of tasting the wines at the wineries directly.


Below are the official wine routes in Sardinia. As far as possible, we have included links to the English versions of the relevant websites.



Check out all the (there are more than 100...!) official Italian wine trails of the Strada dei Vini d'Italia.


In addition, you can also find the required information about wine and wine trips on Sardinia's official tourism website.

The Sardinian wine region and the most famous Sardinian wines


The Mediterranean climate is responsible for the fact that winemaking in Sardinia results in great wines. Plenty of sunshine, quite a bit of wind and generally dry soil is a a combination that produces some refreshing wines, many of which are made from local, native grapes.


The Cannonau (blue grape, accounting for 35% of production) and the Vermentino (white grape accounting for 28% of cultivated grapes) are the most famous of those.


Over the years, many people and cultures have contributed to viticulture as it is known today. The Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans and particularly the Spaniards have had their influence. Winemaking has evolved extremely well, especially in the recent years. The sometimes challenging conditions (dry soil, sometimes strong winds) are now well managed, and the soil types of granite, lime, clay and rock provide a mix of delicious wines as a final result.


Winemaking has emerged as an important foundation of the island, besides tourism, of course. Each year, 3,500,000 hectolitres of wine are produced by the many wineries on the island. Sella e Mosca (now part of the Terra Moretti Vino group...), Cantina Callura, Piero Mancini and Cantina Dorgali are among the island's larger and better known wineries.


Vermentino di Gallura DOCG

The Vermentino grape -which is good for a lovely dry white wine- is also the grape variety in the only wine that is allowed to carry the DOCG label on the island. At the very least, if the grapes come from the designated production area in north-eastern Sardinia. If the Vermentino grapes come from another area, the wine will be marked with the Vermentino di Sardegna DOC label.


De Cannonau di Sardegna DOC

After the highest quality wine, we arrive at the most widely grown grape from Sardinia. You can find the blue Cannonau grapes all over the island. However, the majority is grown in central and north-western Sardinia. The cannonau is a grape originally from Spain (Garnacha) and also known in France (under the name Grenache).


Van Torbato, Vernaccia tot Carignano en Monica

Apart from the more familiar international grape varieties, Sardinia has a few more special grapes that produce delicious wines. In the northwest region around Alghero, the Torbato is a renowned grape variety. The Vernaccia can be found mainly in the West near Oristano and further south are the Carignano and Monica grapes that most wine enthusiasts haven't heard of or tried yet.


Grape varieties in Sardinia

The following list provides an overview of all grape varieties that are cultivated in Sardinia. In alphabetical order they are:


Bovale, Cagnulari, Cannonau, Carignano, Carmenère, Girò, Monica, Nasco, Nuragus, Sangiovese, Torbato, Vermentino, Vermentino Nero, Vernaccia and the Vernaccia Nera.


A list of all wines from Sardinia


The following wines (DOCG, DOC and IGT) are produced in the vineyards of Sardinia.


Sardinia DOCG wines

Vermentino di Gallura DOCG


Sardinia DOC wines

Alghero DOC

Arborea DOC

Cagliari DOC

Campidano di Terralba / Terralba DOC

Cannonau di Sardegna DOC

Carignano del Sulcis DOC

Girò di Cagliari DOC

Malvasia di Bosa DOC

Mandrolisai DOC

Monica di Sardegna DOC

Moscato di Sardegna DOC

Moscato di Sorso-Sennori DOC

Nasco di Cagliari DOC

Nuragus di Cagliari DOC

Sardegna Semidano DOC

Vermentino di Sardegna DOC

Vernaccia di Oristano DOC


Sardinia IGP/IGT wines

IGP Barbagia

IGP Colli del Limbara

IGP Isola dei Nuraghi

IGP Marmilla

IGP Nurra

IGP Ogliastra

IGP Parteolla

IGP Planargia

IGP Provincia di Nuoro

IGP Romangia

IGP Sibiola

IGP Tharros

IGP Trexenta

IGP Valle del Tirso

IGP Valli di Porto Pino

Wines are being produced in the cellar of the Sella e Mosca winery

Travel information


Sardinia is one of the two major islands of Italy, along with Sicily. There are three major airports to be used to fly to the island. 


If you want to explore the wine region of Sardinia and are unable to travel by your own car, there are several airports nearby. 


  • Olbia (Aeroporto di Olbia-Costa Smeralda), airport code OLB
  • Alghero (Aeroporto di Alghero), AHO
  • Cagliari (Cagliari-Elmas), CAG


You can then rent a car at the airports, after which it's easy to explore the region further on your own.


Another option for getting to it by car is via one of the ferries that run from mainland Italy to Sardinia.



Some images copyright Consorzio Tutela Vini di Alghero DOC