2022 Argiolas Costera Cannonau Sardinia 6pk 6x750ml

Argiolas has been Sardinia's leading wine estate since 1938, when Antonio Argiolas became the first producer on the island to pursue quality over quantity. Today, the family-owned winery farms 600 acres and is recognized as the island's finest producer, crafting archetypal wines from native Sardinian varietals.

Costera is made from Cannonau — Sardinia's workhorse red grape, likely brought from Spain centuries ago and now perfectly adapted to the island's warm Mediterranean climate. The 2022 vintage is 90% Cannonau with 5% Bovale Sardo and 5% Carignano, from vines that soak up the intense southern Sardinian sun and deliver unexpectedly deep color and full-bodied weight.

Winemaker Mariano Murru ferments the fruit and ages it in French oak barriques, which rounds the tannins and adds vanilla to the wine's core of very ripe strawberries, black cherries, herbs, and spices. The result is intensely vinous on the nose, warm and well-rounded on the palate, with excellent structure and balance.

At $33, this is Sardinian Cannonau at the quality level you'd expect to pay $50 for. The depth, the fruit weight, the polish — this is what happens when a serious estate brings 85 years of experience to a native grape most people have never heard of. Pull the cork tonight and let it open for twenty minutes.