Argiolas Costera 2006 Front Label
Argiolas Costera 2006 Front Label

Winemaker Notes

Blend: 90% Cannonau, 5% Carignano and 5% Bovale Sardo

The intense, ruby red color of this wine tends toward orange with age. The full bouquet of sweet black cherry, pepper, and licorice is typical of the Cannonau grape.

Warm and full bodied on the palate with excellent texture, ripe fruit flavors and pleasant tannins, Costera is an excellent food wine that is best enjoyed with roast beef with herbs, filet mignon, stews and sharp cheeses.

Professional Ratings

  • 88
    An earthy blend of cannonau with five percent each of carignano and bovale sardo, this shows good concentration of flavor underneath its rustic funk. Sweet, fresh strawberry marks the finish. Serve with spicy sausage.
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Grenache thrives in any warm, Mediterranean climate where ample sunlight allows its clusters to achieve full phenolic ripeness. While Grenache's birthplace is Spain (there called Garnacha), today it is more recognized as the key player in the red blends of the Southern Rhône, namely Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Côtes du Rhône and its villages. Somm Secret—The Italian island of Sardinia produces bold, rustic, single varietal Grenache (there called Cannonau). California, Washington and Australia have achieved found success with Grenache, both flying solo and in blends.

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Hailed for centuries as a Mediterranean vine-growing paradise, multiple cultures over many centuries have ruled the large island of Sardinia. Set in the middle of the Tyrrhenian Sea, the Phonoecians, Ancient Rome, and subsequently the Byzantines, Arabs and Catalans have all staked a claim on the island at some point in history. Along the way, these inhabitants transported many of their homeland’s prized vines and today Sardinia’s modern-day indigenous grape varieties claim multiple origins. Sardinia’s most important red grapes—namely Cannonau (a synonym for Grenache) and Carignan—are actually of Spanish origin.

Vermentino, a prolific Mediterranean variety, is the island’s star white. Vermentino has a stronghold the Languedoc region of France as well as Italy’s western and coastal regions, namely Liguria (where it is called Pigato), Piedmont (where it is called Favorita) and in Tuscany, where it goes by the name, Vermentino. The best Vermentino, in arguably all of the Mediterranean, grows in Sardinia's northeastern region of Gallura where its vines struggle to dig roots deep down into north-facing slopes of granitic soils. These Vermentino vines produce highly aromatic, full and concentrated whites of unparalleled balance.

Today aside from its dedication to viticulture, Sardinia remains committed to maintaining its natural farmlands, bucolic plains of grazing sheep and perhaps most of all, its sandy, sunny, Mediterranean beaches.

HNYARSCOA06C_2006 Item# 93626