The history of the Capichera winery begins when the Ragnedda family inherited some lands in Tumbas de sos Mannos (Tomba dei Giganti = Giants Tombs), a prestigious archaeological site formed between 1800 and 1100 B.C. in Arzachena. We are in the 70s, in Gallura, about 20 kilometers from the sea of the northern coast of Sardinia, and those lands are destined to vineyards, and flanked by a cellar for wine production. After a few years the winery passed from the parents to the six children, among whom Mario and Fabrizio are soon highlighted, animated by a strong entrepreneurial spirit and by an almost crazy productive idea for the time: to obtain from pure Vermentino grapes important wines, able to compete with the great Italian whites overall.
The oenological part is guided by Fabrizio who begins to sample the land he owns according to a detailed zonation, able to photograph every single vineyard and/or plot with X-rays. To enhance all the pedoclimatic diversity, however, there is a need to invest and Mario and Fabrizio do not back down, going through a first phase of development in which all the profits of the winery are reinvested. Once the right “recipe” has been found, it is the turn of Mario, who plays his role of communicator without sparing himself, becoming, as many Sardinian winemakers recognize him, a real ambassador of Vermentino, not only of the Gallura one, around the world. Alongside this work there is also the more strictly commercial one whose firm point is that, to the high quality of the wines produced, a higher price must be paid; a job which, once again, has benefited many in Sardinia.
If today this process of development and positioning seems accomplished, and the production line has opened to other vines, such as in the case of Carignano and even Syrah, it is however the Vermentino grape the house signature dish, constituting the only component in the half of the produced wines. Among them stands out the VT (Vendemmia Tardiva = late harvest) a wine with the denomination IGT Isola dei Nuraghi entered into production in 1990, with the intention of offering to the most demanding palates of the time an overripe Vermentino aged in barrique; a wine with an intense and deep character. The grapes, raised with a density of 50 quintals per hectare, are harvested between late September and early October and, after a four-week fermentation in steel tanks at a controlled temperature (16/18 C, white) age for 4-6 months in bottle, before marketing.
The 2017 vintage shows an intense straw-yellow color with an olfactory range that opens on notes of medlar, ripe apricot, conference pear and helichrysum, followed by nectarine, wisteria, chlorophyll and strawberry tree honey, with final echoes of wet pebbles and iodine. The palate, despite the evident roundness, never loses balance, thanks to the iodine sapidity, a good acidity and a balsamic touch of white pepper; all enriched by the return of yellow fruit and vegetable that accompany the sip to a long and juicy finish.
Rating: 92/100
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