In her book Cucina, Marcella Hazan adapted a soup of mussels, cranberry beans, celery, and basil she had once enjoyed in a restaurant in the northeastern Sardinian port town of Olbia. “When I was working on seafood recipes one summer,” she wrote, “it was the one dish that, once tasted, my friends asked me to make again and again.” Across the island, along Sardinia’s northwestern coast, Vigne Rada makes this bianco that serves as a perfect accompaniment to Hazan’s rendition of the dish. The Vermentino’s crispness and saline notes marry beautifully with the plump mussels, while the supporting flavors of ripe and freshly picked orchard fruit wonderfully complement the soup’s flavorful, hearty beans and spice.

A field blend of mostly Vermentino along with other indigenous grapes from the windswept mountains of northern Sardinia, this bianco tastes like a throwback to when everything was done by hand and with minimal intervention. A weeklong cold soak and a barely oxidative vinification bring out layers of texture and bone-dry flavors of almonds, orchard fruit, and salinity. Throw your favorite fish on the grill and pour a glass of this Prama Dorada for an ideal pairing. 

Mamoiada may not be a household name in the way that Châteauneuf-du-Pape, for example, is synonymous with world-class Grenache. And yet, with vineyards that reach 2,500 feet above sea level, this tiny village in the heart of central Sardinia’s highlands is emerging as a top site for Cannonau, as the grape is known locally. The mountain terroir is unparalleled in Sardinia or elsewhere, endowing Cannonau with extraordinary concentration while preserving precious freshness that allows its wines to elegantly toe a delicate balance.
     Giovanni Montisci, who farms just two hectares of stubby old vines, remembers the traditional wines of Mamoiada—sweet, alcoholic, rustic brews served with the region’s similarly rustic cuisine—and refined things a bit, taking inspiration from Quintarelli, Rayas, and the best in Barolo. He crafts dry Cannonaus of a regal caliber that channel these legends through the lens of Mamoiada’s high-elevation, decomposed granite soils. The sweetly perfumed nose of rose petals, wild strawberry, and juniper prefaces this deep and powerful, yet exquisitely refined Cannonau, definitively putting Mamoiada on the map for lovers of Grenache and great Italian reds in general.