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 The
Cannonau is the most common grapevine in Sardinia: representing 24% of
the presence
of vines in the region, reaching 62% in the region of Nuoro.
It is for this reason that the wine of the same name is the most famous
Sardinian wine, and may be considered, as stated by Vitagliano, 'the wine
of the Sardinians'. In this way it has been widely reported in the literature:
from the citation by Gemelli, who inserts 'Canonao’ as being amongst
the wines drunk, and La Marmora who speaks of the ‘valorous one amongst
the wines of the Ogliastra’, to the ode 'Nepente di Oliena’ by
Gabrielle d’Annunzio.
Cannonau is a grapevine of definite Spanish provenance, which is compared
to the Seville ‘Canonazo’, and the Aragonese ‘Granaxa’ and
French ‘Grenache'. In Sardinia it can be found in c. 14,000 hectares
and is known by various synonyms and dialect entries: Manca dell’Arca
called it ‘Canonadu’ and Redagliadu nieddu’, Cara called
it ‘Retagliadu nieddu’, as did Cettolini who noted Cannonau
under the Sassari synonym ‘Ritagliaddu nieddu’ and that of
Gallura, ‘Cannonatu'. Moris defined it Vitis praestans. Cannonau
is used to obtain the DOC wine of the same name, ‘Cannonau di Sardegna’ with
its various typologies and sub-denominations: ‘Oliena’ or Nepente
di Oliena’, ‘Jerzu’ and ‘Capo Ferrato’, but
it is also mixed with other types of grapes for red wines with geographical
indications, those of fantasy, or DOC wines such as ‘Mandrolisai'.
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