The King of Sardinian Grapevines
There is a wine that encapsulates the entire history of Sardinia. Not just of the last few centuries, but of millennia — of Nuragic populations, of wells dug into the rock, of seeds preserved for three thousand years.
It is called Cannonau, and it is the most widespread grape variety on the island. But above all — and this is a story worth telling — it could be the oldest wine in the entire Mediterranean basin.
A Disputed Origin: Spain or Sardinia?
For a long time, the official history of Cannonau was that of an imported grape variety. It was thought to have arrived in Sardinia in the 15th century with the Aragonese, a mutation of the Iberian Grenache — called Alicante by the Spanish, Canonazo in Seville, Garnacha in Aragon.
The traditional theory placed the origins of the vine in the Caucasus and Mesopotamia, from where it had spread through Anatolia, Egypt, and the Aegean islands, reaching the Mediterranean thanks to the Phoenicians — the first great promoters of wine culture in our sea.
In this narrative, Sardinia was just a stop. A land that had received the vine from outside, like many others.
But history was about to be rewritten.
The Turning Point: Grape Seeds from Nuraghe Arrubiu
In 2002, near the Nuraghe Arrubiu of Orroli, some fossilized grape seeds belonging to a still-cultivated grape variety on the island were recovered. Carbonized, but in good condition: enough to subject them to analysis in enological laboratories.
The result was groundbreaking: those seeds dated back to 1200 BC — more than 3,000 years ago. About three centuries before the Spanish brought the first grapes to cultivate in Sardinia.
Analyses confirm that this grape was almost certainly Cannonau. Not a mutation imported from Spain, but an indigenous Sardinian grape variety — native to the island, from which it was then exported to the Iberian Peninsula, and not the other way around.
Sa Osa and Other Finds: The Definitive Proof
The discovery at Nuraghe Arrubiu was not isolated. In subsequent decades, other finds confirmed and expanded the picture.
In the province of Oristano, at the Nuragic site of "Sa Osa" in the territory of Cabras, artifacts dating back to the Bronze Age were brought to light: wells dug into the rock, between 4.5 and 6 meters deep, which prehistoric populations used to preserve food thanks to natural thermal insulation. Inside these wells, almost intact, grape seeds, walnuts, hazelnuts, and fig seeds were found — all genetically studied.
The perfect preservation of the Sa Osa grape seeds made it possible to precisely identify the grape variety. Excavations at the Nuraghe of Villanovaforru also yielded seeds with a morphology that suggests a vine with characteristics mingling a wild type and Cannonau.
Added to these are findings in the Tirso Valley north of Cagliari and in Villanovafranca — all converging on the same conclusion: Cannonau was already present in Sardinia millennia before any Iberian domination.
A Certainty: The Phoenicians Found the Vine Already There
All this data leads to a conclusion that rewrites the history of the vine in the Mediterranean:
When the Phoenicians arrived in Sardinia, the cultivation of Vitis Vinifera was already known on the island.
Cannonau is not a Spanish legacy. It is an indigenous Sardinian grape variety — probably the oldest in the Mediterranean basin — which then spread from Sardinia to Spain, where it took the name Garnacha and Grenache.
In short, the story was the other way around.
The Name: A Late Appearance for an Ancient Wine
Cannonau has a curious fate: an ancient wine, but with a relatively recent name.
The first variants of the name — Cannonadu, Canonao — are found in medieval documents. But the definitive form "Cannonau" appears for the first time in an official document on October 21, 1549, in an act by notary Bernardino Coni of Cagliari.
In the following centuries, attestations multiplied: in 1612, an emissary of King Martín Carrillo, and in 1677, Friar Giorgio Aleo, cited "vini Cañonates" among the island's precious products. In the 18th century, Manca dell'Arca spoke extensively about it; in the 19th century, botanist Moris called it "Vitis prestans" — the excellent vine. Around the mid-19th century, Father Vittorio Angius confirmed what everyone already knew: Cannonau is the most widespread grape variety in Sardinia.
A changing name, an enduring presence.
Cannonau and Colline del Vento: Tradition Continues
Cannonau is Sardinia. It is the Mediterranean scrub, the mistral wind, the red iron-rich soil, the intense light that burns summers and late harvests.
We at Colline del Vento work on this land — the granite of Villasimius, the sea within sight — with the awareness that every bottle of Cannonau carries within it something much older than us. A chain that begins in the Nuragic wells of Sa Osa and reaches our rows.
Making wine here is not just a job. It is preserving a memory that belongs to everyone.
Salude e trigu.
