2022 Berteru – Cantina Gungui, Cannonau di Sardegna DOC “Nuraghe Sas de Melas” Sardinia, Italy.
The deep, exotic and powerful dark ruby/garnet hued 2022 Berteru Nuraghe Sas de Melas signature Cannonau (Grenache) by Luca Gungui is a full bodied and lavish wine, coming in at close to 16% natural alcohol, that rivals the best from old vine Châteauneuf du Pape for concentration, depth of layers and complexity with an amazing sense of wow factor and surprising strikingly fresh details. The nose is exciting with a range of florals, mountain herbs, berry coulis, candied/brandied cherry, grilled orange and seductive earthiness which leads to a full bodied palate of boysenberry, lingonberry jam, plum and fresh picked strawberry fruits, along with amaro, peppery spice, truffle, minty licorice, flinty stones and crushed lilacs. The granite soils and elevation of the terroir here give mineral tones and helps retain bright acidity, even with such ripe fruit density, that tones down the heady nature of this wine, though I love it as is, it does call for a robust meaty meal to get the very best for it. People who are judgy might be frightened off by the ABV, but fortune rewards the brave and this wine is already developing a cult following, those that know new world Grenache stars Saxum or Sine Qua Non (Grenache) bottlings will want this Berteru “Nuraghe Sas de Melas Cannonau di Sardegna in their collection. This is the second wine I’ve tried lately from Luca Gungui, who is imported to the States by Oliver McCrum, under his Berteru label and again I was left thrilled by the experience, especially with this wines hedonist opulence and seductive textural richness, but also the authentic rustic soulfulness. I have say, coming back to this wine multiple times over the course of an evening with many outstanding wines, this wine just got better and better, and I am a truly converted fan of Sardinia’s Cannonau, and I look forward to following these Berteru wines in the future.
I am always grateful to wine professionals that promote other people’s efforts, as with this Berteru – Cantina Gungui Cannonau, so a big thank you to my friend and winemaker Giuseppi Cossu, who while doing his own harvest on Sardinia, managed to grab a few bottles of Luca’s just released wines and brought it back to California to share. Cossu, like Gungui absolutely believe Cannonau or Grenache is actually a native varietal to Sardinia and not, as commonly thought, an import from Spain, where it is known as Garnacha. The Spanish came here in the 14th Century, and Luca says that an ancient settlement that was being excavated in 2015 about 50 kilometers from Mamoiada revealed Cannonau grape pips; this historical settlement dates to about 2,000 years BC, which strongly, as Cossu says, suggests that the grape is almost certainly indigenous to Sardinia. This Nuraghe Sas de Melas comes from Gungui’s oldest hectare of vines that about 60 years old in the Mamoiada area that has similar granite based soils of the highly regarded Gallura region, famous for Vermentino, to the north, which is also great for the Cannonau, as seen here. Importer Oliver McCrum explains that Luca has been farming organically from the beginning and his philosophy, the same as most top growers, is that less is more. As such they try to do as little as possible in the vineyards and the cellar, letting the land speak honestly through the wine, these limited bottlings are very rare and coveted. This edition of Berteru comes from bush-trained Cannonau vines from the vineyard called “Sas de Melas” that sits up at 600 meters (about 2,000 feet) above sea level, near Luca’s home village of Mamoiada. The grapes are 100% de-stemmed and crushed, and the fermentation begins using indigenous yeasts started with a ‘pied de cuve’ (true vineyard yeasts started while the grapes are being picked) on the skins for 10-12 days, then pressed to stainless tanks for aging. The wine doesn’t need any wood to obscure the purity and it benefits from the naked transparency, absolutely fabulous stuff.
($55 Est.) 95 Points, grapelive