Agricola Punica
When you’ve been the principal technical and creative architect
of one of Italy’s most esteemed and transformative wine categories,
you’re really not going to have much time for outside interests.
One would imagine that Giacomo Tachis—one of the pivotal minds
behind the legends of the Super-Tuscan movement (Sassicaia, Tignanello,
Solaia, and Solengo, just to name a few)—wouldn’t be looking
beyond his numerous Tuscan involvements, especially to pursue an affair
with a region that has a past with bulk production, distinguishing
itself, if at all, on the basis of some sweet wines, many of which
are on the verge of extinction.
But Tachis just didn’t see Sardegna quite like that. Though
the island became his preferred vacation spot, his first visit provoked
far more than a good R&R session. In fact, it wasn’t a get-away
destination for long, becoming an official professional outpost in
the mid-1980s, when Tachis began to consult for the Consorzio delle
Cantine Sociale di Sardegna (subsequently known as the Vini DOC
Sardegna). He went on to enlarge his Sardegnian customer base in 1992—after
officially retiring—establishing an association with the Istituto
Regionale della Vite e del Vino. These associations afforded Tachis
the opportunity to provide customized services to wineries that held
particular appeal for him. He singled out Argiolas and Cantina Sociale
di Santadi for dedicated attention, developing a relationship with
the latter that led to the inception of Agricola Punica.
What exactly did he see in Sardegna? Paradoxically, it looked a lot
like Toscana pre-Sassicaia—a place that didn’t have much
credibility on the national wine scene, let alone the international
front. In fact, Tachis believed that Sardegna was undermining itself,
relying on practices that did not complement Sardegna’s climatic
constitution. Such negligence certainly did not befit the former oenological
glory of Southern Italy, which had flourished during the Greco-Roman
period. It is Tachis’ conviction that this unlikely phase was
significant in Italy’s viticultural memoirs—so much so
that many of the practices actually constituted the blueprint for
viticultural techniques that emerged in France in the 1970s and ’80s.
In effect, therefore, Tachis was seeking to inaugurate a restoration
period for a land that had been known as insuli vini (“wine
island”). This land, however, trafficked in grapes outside Tachis’ preferred
varietal purview—the Bordeaux triumvirate—and it wasn’t
particularly interested in admitting outsiders. Tachis respected the
Sardegnians’ reluctance, introducing only modest plantings of
Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Syrah. But, while believing them essential
components of a theoretical Sardegnian blend, Tachis wasn’t
interested in fashioning a Sardegnian Sassicaia or establishing Cabernet’s
innate relationship with the island.
He was far too preoccupied with Spanish native Carignano, one of
Sardegna’s three principal varieties. Tachis believed that the
way it conducted itself in Sardegna—its intriguing island persona—suggested
that Sardegna afforded the grape an ideal context.
One of Sardegna’s
particular virtues is its protracted period of
daily sunlight—an
average of seven hours—enabling the grapes to achieve high levels
of ripeness at a fairly early stage. Thus, Tachis
was inspired to rest his Sardegnian mission on
the virtues of a grape best known as a minor constituent in various
blends (particularly in France’s Languedoc-Roussillon).
Having convinced Sassicaia colleagues Marchese
Nicolò Incisa
della Rocchetta and Sebastiano Rosa of his belief
in both Sardegna and Carignano, Tachis conceived
a collaborative effort between Tenuta San Guido and Cantina Santadi,
formally realizing his vision with the establishment of Agricola Punica
in 2002.
Situated in Sardegna’s southwest, specifically the area known
as Sulcis Meridionale, Punica represents two sites—Barrua and
Narcao. The vineyards are planted to Carignano (a combination of old,
bush-trained vines and new vines), Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and
Syrah (the last of which was initially worked with on an experimental
basis). Punica is committed to crafting Carignano-based wines, the
first of which was Barrua, a blend of Carignano, Cabernet Sauvignon,
and Merlot (2002 vintage debut). Montessu—a blend of Carignano,
Cabs Sauvignon and Franc, Merlot, and Syrah—premiered in the
2005 vintage.
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