Best Wines of Sardinia 2026

With three 100/100, Vinodabere (www.vinodabere.it) bows to perfection (or whatever comes closest to it), a feat it doesn't deny (or deny itself) to those who nail it when tasting an anonymous bottle. This year, two Vermentinos hit the jackpot: Depperu 's Ruinas del Fondatore 2022 (a repeat offender of top quality), Tenute Campianatu 's Gallura Superiore Campianatu 2023 , and a Cannonau di Sardegna , the Perdas Longas 2023 , from the highly regarded Francesco Cadinu . All this from a list of just over 700 labels tested.

Anyone who remembers, or has seen, last year's totals will notice a significant difference: 100 fewer wines tasted. But there's a reason. It's due in equal parts to the challenging 2023 vintage, which particularly affected the reds (and especially Barbagia), but also to the increased maturity of the producers. They carefully considered the need to use only the finest grapes and proportionally reduced their range of labels for a year. The results, at least in part, rewarded and consoled them. The 2023 wines tasted were extremely convincing (they were, after all, two of the three 100/100 winners); many wines could be briefly (and perhaps inappropriately) described as basic wines, but, enriched by the forgoing of Reserves and/or Ghiradas, achieved highly respectable results, class, and sensations.

From a territorial perspective, examining the island's subregions, Gallura reaffirms and strengthens its vocation for Vermentino (17 Standing Ovations out of 35 in the Guide) and demonstrates that it has also found a very regional interpretation for Cannonau (4 Standing Ovations out of 10 in the Guide). Vermentino also enjoyed success in Romangia (4 Standing Ovations) and Coros (3 top honors). A shower of awards then went to the now-established Mamoiada (12 out of 21 Cannonau in the Guide), which, by choosing to become a winemaking community, makes progress every year with its mountain Cannonau and the increasingly surprising Granazza.

Good news also comes from Orgosolo (3 out of 4 awarded Standing Ovations) and Oliena (5 out of 9), which is seeing a resurgence of its Nepente, increasingly freed from the old rusticities that held it back. As for Southern Sardinia, Carignano remains the flagship, with 7 out of 14 Standing Ovations. And, despite a clear lack of awareness and communication about the area's potential, Mandrolisai (7 out of 14 awarded), the only Sardinian sub-region with a DOC dedicated to its territory, is also taking the cake (7 out of 14).

Tastings of oxidative wines (Vernaccia di Oristano and Malvasia di Bosa) and sweet wines once again demonstrate the profound disconnect between their exceptional quality and the commercial challenges these types of products face. They deserve to be championed and apostled by those who understand their value.

Finally: as the great Totò used to say, it's the sum that makes the total. And the total that seems most obvious is the growing interest the Sardinian wine world sees every year. And for those who, like Vinodabere, have been a pioneering witness and narrator of this, and in times unsuspecting, today's results can only be immensely gratifying.