Gavino Sanna’s biography is characterized by a long series of experiences in the world of advertising that have made him the most famous Italian representative of this category, as well as one of the most famous worldwide. From Sassari to New York, where he also collaborated with the Andy Warhol’s Factory, and then again in Italy, Gavino has collected success and recognition seamlessly. One of the most recent projects of this eclectic and brilliant character is the Mesa winery, founded in 2004 in Sant’Anna Arresi, in the Sulcis Igesiente, in the extreme south-western part of Sardinia.
Despite his inexperience in the strict wine field (agronomic and oenological management are entrusted to Stefano Cova and Michele Flore) Sanna has made a decisive contribution to the winery, dealing with what he knows best: marketing, communication and graphic design. For this exact reason, despite the winery was purchased in 2017 by the Santa Margherita Group, Gavino has retained an important share of participation, as well as a prominent role in the definition of its image.
From the 78 hectares of vines (66 owned and 12 rented), located on land often really close to the white sand and the sea, come the traditional grapes of Sardinia (Vermentino, Carignano and Cannonau, as well as a plot of vineyards in Syrah) used for vinification in the owned cellar. This last one, whose facade takes up the graphic theme used by Sanna for bottle labels (a stylization of traditional themes of Sardinian tapestries), covers 5,000 square meters, divided into three levels, in which the passage from one phase to another of the vinification takes place through the principle of gravitational fall, without any electromechanical help.
Among the entry-level wines of this winery we find Buio, a 100% Carignano that grows in the classic southern soils of Sulcis, on lands where the draining power of calcareous debris and red clays is mitigated by the presence of high silicate component sands. Here the grapes are left in the plant, on average, until the second decade of September when the manual harvest is carried out, with a first important selection of the bunches in the plant. Once in the cellar, the grapes are destemmed and, then, gently pressed, before falling, due to the natural gravity force, in stainless steel tanks where they will be left to ferment and macerate on the skins for 9-12 days, at a temperature of about 26 °C. The obtained wine is poured into other steel containers, where it will be left to age for six months, to which will be added, after bottling, another two months in glass before marketing.
The 2020 vintage shows a bright ruby color with an evident consistency, and an olfactory range that opens on notes of cherries in syrup, wild strawberry, date and helichrysum, followed by carob, myrtle and black pepper, with final echoes of humus. The mouthfeel is much more agile than one might suppose, despite maintaining a large and generous structure, with a tasty mineral/iodine component and dense tannins, maybe even too defined for a wine with such a low price; all enriched by the return of red fruit and a reminding of blood notes that accompany the sip up to a good length closure.
Rating: 88/100
