In our ongoing quest to drink through Italy’s seemingly limitless supply of indigenous grapes, we find ourselves in the Sardinian village of Serdiana, just a short drive northeast of the regional capital, Cagliari. This is considered one of the ideal locales for growing the Nuragus grape, one of those “here and nowhere else” varieties Italy is so famous for. As for the maker of today’s wine, Antonella Corda, well, you might say that Nuragus is in her blood: Her grandfather, the Sardinian wine icon Antonio Argiolas, produces “S’Elegas,” perhaps the most famous expression of the variety.
Working in vineyards she’s known intimately since childhood, Antonella Corda launched her own wine label in 2010 and enjoyed runaway success from the jump: Every wine in her locally focused lineup is so assured and authentic we can’t help but jump at the chance to offer one when the opportunity arises. Corda is like a chef who sources nearly all her ingredients from a garden right outside the kitchen door, and today’s 2020 is like opening that door to the smell of morning dew and trees full of fruit. Like so many Italian rarities, there are very few producers of Nuragus and few useful comparables, other than to say that it is familiar—unoaked, delicately aromatic, textured, mineral—and foreign in equal measure. It’s immensely satisfying, it’s unique to one prescribed place, and it’s affordable. Why else do we drink wine but to discover bottles like this one?
Corda’s 40-hectare farm in Serdiana includes 15 hectares planted to vineyards and 12 to olive groves, all farmed organically. She works with the well-traveled winemaking consultant Luca D’Attoma to craft her tight lineup of wines, but there is no consultant’s “imprint” to be found on any of them—just clean fruit flavors, a touch of saline, and crushed mineral savor. The Nuragus is fermented and aged in stainless steel only, producing a lip-smacking white that calls for a fresh grilled branzino, stuffed with lemon and herbs and drizzled with the greenest, most viscous olive oil you can lay your hands on.
