The Mandrolisai Winery was founded in 1950 in Sardinia, and two years later in 1952 the first historic harvest took place.
The Cantina del Mandrolisai Agricultural Cooperative initially brings together members from the municipality of Sorgono and the neighboring town of Atzara, and only later members from the towns of Ortueri, Meana Sardo and Samugheo, a town in the Province of Oristano.
Mandrolisai, a little over forty years ago, on June 6, 1981 to be exact, obtained recognition by Presidential Decree becoming the only DOC in Sardinia named after the territory in which it is produced.
In the Mandrolisai DOC, a blend of three grape varieties, Bovale Sardo or Muristeddu, Cannonau and Monica, is to be used.
The Cantina Sociale del Mandrolisai, is located in the town of Sorgono, a municipality located in the geographical center of the island, is the historical capital of Mandrolisai subregion.
An area strongly vocated by tradition to viticulture where wines are born as mentioned from grapes, Cannonau, Muristeddu and Monica with strong personalities that perfectly embody the spirit of the territory from which they come.
The winery precisely takes its name from a region with special geographical characteristics, with high hill terrain, perfectly exposed and sunny.
A climate characterized by low rainfall and long summers also contributes to the success of the wine, ensuring perfect ripening of the grapes even in cooler vintages.
The quality and uniqueness of the region's wines makes Mandrolisai part of the Sardinian Denominazione di Origine Controllata wines.
Today, Cantina Sociale del Mandrolisai produces a range of mainly red wines, but also white and rosé wines. The wines are distinctly different in structure, and some of them have been aged for a long time in oak barrels.
Vineyard area is 1200 hectares, grape production is about 45000 quintals, and yield per hectare is less than 40 quintals per hectare.
Red grape varieties dominate, particularly Bovale Sardo, Cannonau and Monica, from which the Mandrolisai DOC is made.
The percentage of grapes in Mandrolisai DOC is distributed as follows: Bovale Sardo or Muristeddu, not less than 40 percent; Cannonau 25 to 30 percent; and finally Monica di Sardegna, 20 to 30 percent.
The Mandrolisai territory
Mandrolisai is one of Sardinia's historic geographic areas, located in the heart of the island and characterized by a pleasant hill system that preludes the heights of Barbagia di Belvì and Gennargentu, mediating from the western plain.
It is crisscrossed by winding roads, and traveling through these places in the fall is a real spectacle, as the sunset colors in a magical way, with vineyards to the left and right alternating with olive groves, climbing the rolling hills, coloring the landscape a magnificent red.
The soils, formed by the disintegration of granite and shale, are generally of good texture, loose sand, good acidity and rich in potassium, but low in nitrogen and phosphorus, making them particularly suitable for vines.
Mandrolisai municipalities
Sorgono and Atzara are the historical areas of Mandrolisai. Cantina Sociale del Mandrolisai is located in Sorgono, a cooperative founded in 1950 that brings together most of the region's small producers.
As already mentioned, the hilly terrain, the climate characterized by sunny summers and low rainfall, but at the same time exposure to temperature swings between day and night, thanks in part to the nearby mountains, are able to bind in the grapes the color kit.
Added to this are the soils characterized by granitic sandstone, the basis of fine wines and rich in acidity, and the region's unique wine culture, not based on a single grape variety like the rest of the island, but on three varietal shows,: the Bovale Sardo said Muristellu, an indigenous grape probably the result of domestication of the Sardinian wild vine, characterized by acidity, tannin and richness of color that give the wine structure and intensity, the Cannonau, a variety capable of accumulating sugar like few, finally the Monica, variety with a more refined, fresh and feminine soul.
These are the three elements of the alchemical miracle of Mandrolisai, wines born from the union of terroir, variety and material culture. Fine wines of great personality and great evolutionary capacity, unique as unique is this beautiful land.
