Region |
Sardinia |
Country |
Italy |
Morphology of the land |
Plain: 18%
Hill: 68%
Mountain: 14%
|
Climate and soil |
The climate of Sardinia is insular-Mediterranean. Summers are long, hot, dry and windy; winters are short, rainy but not cold, with the exception of the higher areas. The annual averages oscillate between the 18 ° C of the coastal strips and the 14 ° C of the internal ones, where the thermal excursions are also more relevant. The rainfall is decent in autumn-winter, scarce in spring and almost absent in summer, but it can have heavy rainfall, cold winds and temperature changes quite drastic between February and March, which can damage the vegetative awakening of the vine. The dominant wind is the Mistral, from the north-west, which invests above all the western sector of the island, while the warm and swirling garbino and scirocco wind on the southern coasts. |
History |
The name derives from the ancient people who lived there: the Sardinians. Colonized by the Phoenicians, then by the Greeks, it was called by the latter as Ienusa, because in its geographic form it looked like the shape of a human foot. |
Typical products |
Desserts are some of the greatest Sardinian wines, exported only in small quantities: moscato, malvasia and Vernaccia di Oristano. Cannonau is a potentially high quality chameleonic grape that can give sweet or dry, red or rosé wines. Its most accomplished expression is perhaps the Cannonau of Sardinia, ruby red color tending to garnet with aging, which has a pleasant aroma of grapes and ripe red fruit and a savory and warm flavor. The Vermentino di Sardegna is the white grape variety most typical of Sardinia but is also present on the Ligurian coast, where it is called pigato, and throughout the South of France. The Vermentino di Gallura, produced in the north-east, is the best Sardinian DOCG, resulting from an extreme concentration of Vermentino grapes due to the combination of hot, dry soils and sea winds. The most successful red is the Carignano del Sulcis DOC, produced in the south-western end of the island with old carignan grapes of satisfactory yield. |
Typical dishes |
Despite being an island, Sardinia is not a land of fishermen, and the most authentic Sardinian cuisine is that of the hinterland, linked to the uses and the gastronomic habits of the populations of the plains and the mountains. Sardinian cuisine is mainly based on pasta, soups, bread, vegetables such as artichokes and tomatoes, lamb and sheep meat, goat and goat, but also on pigs and cows, obtained from intensive farms in the extensive pastures. The most famous appetizers are the bottarga, eggs of tone or mullet dried and sliced very thin on slices of toasted bread, used also as a seasoning for savory and tasty first courses. Numerous salads based on seafood, such as seafood, lobster, or boiled octopus served with oil, salt, pepper and lemon. Not many cured meats, including the raw pork ham, the goat and sheep hams of Teulada, the Irgoli sausage. Among the first courses, the most typical are is mallereddus, tiny gnocchi flavored with wild boar sauce, or with potatoes, onions and grated pecorino. Maccarones are also tasty, obtained from a dough from a mixture of durum wheat semolina with water, twisted to a knitting needle, seasoned with ricotta or meat sauces. The desserts are often enriched with honey and cheese, fried and served sprinkled with honey, mostly arbutus. Made with ricotta cheese is the ricotta cake, enriched with almonds, walnuts and raisins, the zippulas, with flour, sugar, eggs, brewer's yeast, ricotta, potatoes and orange peel. |
Red grape varieties |
Bovale, Cannonau, Carignano, Girò, Monica, Pascale di Cagliari, Sangiovese
|
White grape varieties |
Malvasia di Sardegna, Moscato Bianco/Moscato Reale, Nasco, Nuragus, Torbato, Vermentino, Vernaccia di Oristano
|
DOCG |
|
DOC |
,
Arborea
,
Cagliari
,
,
,
Girò di Cagliari
,
Malvasia di Bosa
,
,
,
,
Moscato di Sorso-Sennori
,
Nasco di Cagliari
,
,
Sardegna Semidano
,
Terralba
,
,
|
IGT |
Barbagia
,
,
,
,
Nurra
,
Ogliastra
,
Parteolla
,
Planargia
,
Provincia di Nuoro
,
,
Sibiola
,
,
Trexenta
,
Valle del Tirso
,
|