Italian wines in the world: Cantina Santa Maria la Palma’s Recònta – Cagnulari Riserva Alghero doc

Cagnulari Riserva Recònta’s label by Santa Maria la Palma winery says: “Sun, sea, rock and Cagnulari, strong and unique elements that sculpt and tell a story”. It’s a poetic sentence and it might appear too much, but in reality it is a perfect description of this wine that conveys sun and sea landscapes, but also the hard rocks of the Sardinian land, in particular in the north-western area where Cagnulari has found its ideal habitat. The umpteenth demonstration of Santa Maria la Palma’s excellent work, a winery that has become year by year as a point of reference among the Sardinian wineries. We really liked this Recònta 2016: on the nose it immediately showed itself with hints of Mediterranean scrub, rosemary, black and red fruits (plum and morello cherry), spices (black pepper). In the mouth the structure is tough but harmonious thanks also to an excellent use of aging in wood (14 months in French oak barriques), and makes you presage an excellent longevity. We paired it with an excellent summer barbecue and it was perfect.

Company Profile

It all began in 1946, in the Nurra area, which had been reclaimed and given to the farmworkers following the Agrarian Reform that was implemented in Sardinia in the immediate post-war period. The locals were blessed with skilled, courageous hands that had the capacity to capture the soul of a part of the island that seems to have been designed for winemaking. And so, in 1959, one hundred of them decided to enter into a co-operative and to found the Cantina Santa Maria la Palma (Santa Maria la Palma Winery).  Today, past and future are being combined seamlessly through the new technologies deployed in every project put together by the Winery, which can leverage a tradition that has always married innovation to love for the local soil. 700 hectares of land on the estate are under vine, giving rise to a wealth of highly nuanced Sardinian wines, all made with the same passion and dedication as always, while also taking advantage of everything that state-of-the-art technology has to offer.