In its sound, the name of Iglesias town recalls the ancient lands of Spain. It was the Spaniards who assigned it the prestigious role of royal city during their domination in Sardinia. Precisely for this reason, monuments and architecture in the city to the south-west of the island recall those distant years of the fourteenth century.
Ph. Enrico Nocera
However, Iglesias is also something else: a vast territory with the most interesting biodiversity in the whole of Sardinia. Among the expanses of fruit trees, the cultivation of cereals, the ancient quarries that tell the mining past of the area, we also find the glance of the vineyards. This small valley, which preserves the wine knowledge of Cantina Aru, is among the slopes that define the territory’s profile. We are in the Cixerri plain, where the historic grapes of Sardinia are still planted today: Vermentino for the whites; Cannonau and Carignano for the reds. Grapes harvested to make wines with a very strong identity imprint.
Ph. Carolina Fragapane
Mario Aru is a slim gentleman, with a calm and reassuring expression. He welcomes us smiling as he proudly lets us explore the clay soil where the rows grow. In June the vineyard is about to experience its full splendor, announcing the arrival of summer. The wine cellar shows itself in full swing, while loyal customers are waiting to buy the wine directly from the company. Here the words “large distribution” are banned, explains the winemaker of Cantina Aru. The wines that mature in steel tanks or wooden barrels are created to give back, in all their nuances, the strength, tenacity and thickness of this land. A continuous and incessant research, which does not go along with the idea of producing wines on a large scale.
Ph. Carolina Fragapane
On the other hand, the labels themselves speak for them: Porto Flavia for Cannonau; Pan di Zucchero for the Rosé Cannonau; Sigerro for Carignano. Names that evoke symbolic places of the Iglesiente region and surrounding areas or that tell - in the case of Sigerro - of a very ancient curatoria (typical Sardinian administrative division) of the area. Intense, persistent, deep and highly structured red wines. Rich in aromas ranging from crunchy red fruit to blackberry and raspberry jams. Expression, once again, of the great character of those who have been producing wines for millennia in these territories. Sardinia is, in fact, one of the oldest wine regions in the world, like ancient Mesopotamia and the Black Sea coasts. Cantina Aru is fully part of this very long tradition.
Ph. Carolina Fragapane
Next to the large expanse of vineyards, we find the ancient farm part of the estate. The path takes us between secular customs and rhythms, marked by the alternation of daylight and nighttime darkness. A peasant civilization that lives again through the centuries-old trees, the sunny stone of the pavements, the shady spaces of the stables and the sequence of peasant tools on the walls. A journey through time that condenses in the sip of a glass and makes the memory of this land truly indelible.