Giovanni Montisci, a mechanic from Mamoiada in central Barbagia, took over 2 hectares of land at an altitude of 650-750 meters from his mother-in-law in the late 1990s. On the site were very old vineyards, but the fields were abandoned and had not been cultivated for several years. The area is volcanic and there is a lot of decomposed granite in the subsoil.
It almost became a calling for Giovanni to change his path in life, and this is where his life as a wine farmer began.
The road was long, but he began to work with the old plants, and where they could not be saved, he planted new ones. He got help from two friends who were winemakers, and after approx. At the age of 15, he was ready to bottle his first bottle with his own label. It was the 2004 vintage of Barrosu of 100% cannonau, 700 bottles produced.
In 2005, Cannonau di Sardegna received its DOC appellation.
From the start, Giovanni Montisci had a simple approach to things. Everything had to be natural and his beloved territory had to be protected. No spraying at all, and the wine has been biodynamic from the first bottle, where the only thing that is added is minimal sulfur during bottling.
The oldest fields are still cultivated manually with oxen.
There are only 300 hectares of vineyards here in this area, which is characterized by warm days and cold nights. Cannonau is by nature a grape that produces wines with high alcohol, but the elegance and freshness from the heights means that you do not sense the high alcohol.
Giovanni Montisci seeks freshness and fruit in his wines. That is why he only uses old casks for his wines. When we visited the cellar in October 2022, we were shown 20 hl Slavonian casks, which he had bought from Giulio Salvioni, when he changed them to new casks.
He also has an exciting project with Nebbiolo up in the heights. These wines were also tasted together with an orange wine, but initially we have chosen to take only the Cannonau wines home.
