Sardinian Red & White Wines: Tenuta Asinara

Updated March 17, 2026

A post about a category that I believe I don’t love: Sardinian wines. And a winery I bought from and regret a bit: Asinara. But the fault is neither Sardinia’s nor the winery’s. And maybe not even mine. Let’s proceed in order.

What Sardinian Wines Are

Windy, briny coasts, warmer and drier inland areas, and a heritage of native grape varieties (plus a few historic grafts) explain why, when you start reading labels of Sardinian wines, it feels like opening a map. The simplest compass is this: one DOCG (Vermentino di Gallura) and then a constellation of DOCs (almost twenty), with names that often match key territories (Cannonau di Sardegna, Carignano del Sulcis, Vernaccia di Oristano, Malvasia di Bosa, etc.).

If we look at reds, the three pillars that always come up are Cannonau, Carignano and Bovale. Cannonau is nothing other than Grenache/Garnacha (even though here it takes on a completely insular identity) and it’s the most widespread red, while Carignano del Sulcis often plays on a more savory and darker texture.. Bovale is the other name worth memorizing: less talked about outside the region, but often unmistakable. And then there are the icons: for example Turriga, which is cited as a symbol and as a red based on native grapes (including Cannonau and Bovale).

For whites, the hierarchy is clearer: Vermentino (with Gallura as the classic area), and then two names that immediately evoke Sardinia even for those who don’t drink it often: Malvasia di Bosa and Vernaccia di Oristano. For completeness, let’s also add to the list grape varieties/appellations such as Nasco, Nuragus and Semidano: not very widespread outside the island, but interesting precisely because they escape the Cannonau–Vermentino dyad.

The Main Sardinian Wines

The Tenuta Asinara Winery

I encountered Tenuta Asinara’s wines at VieVinum 2024, where they were guests, and they impressed me enormously — especially some reds. Probably what happened is that Blaufränkisch (as confirmed by the Falstaff Rotweingala 2025) is a wine of very high value, but everything has a threshold and tasting reds so different from those I’d been hanging around for hours hit me like lightning. Hence the decision to proceed with a purchase.

Tenuta Asinara is located on the island of the same name and is owned by the Sassu family. The basic idea doesn’t involve only wine: the owners want to preserve the breed of the white donkeys of Asinara (a sort of albino donkey) and, at the same time, produce “great” wines that demonstrate the territory’s vocation. It’s a project that brings biodiversity and wine together without making it a marketing gimmick: a very Sardinian coherence, if you like.

Technically the winemaking operation is very serious: high planting density (little fruit per vine), thinning, double sorting, gentle pressing for whites, “traditional” fermentations for reds, manual harvest in the cool hours (sometimes at night). The company doesn’t buy fertilizer, but relies on its own small herd of cattle (Chianina breed) and manure fertilization. So we’re in the realm of mid-to-high level viticulture and the catalog is interesting:

The Wines of Tenuta Asinara

Tastings of Tenuta Asinara’s Wines

As said, Tenuta Asinara’s wines were restorative when I was already overwhelmed by Austrian reds during an event in Vienna. Here are my notes, brief but enthusiastic, from that first encounter:

Indolente Rosso 2022
Fleshy cherry and tamed anise, with tannins that support and a well-defined acidity.

Herculis 2020
Red forest berries and a verticality (acidity but also depth) that supports the sip. Great blend.

Hassan 2019
Rich but still austere. Red and black fruits on the nose and palate with notes of toasted oak.

The whites, on the other hand, impressed me less:

Indolente Bianco 2023
Vibrant acidity and a nose of crisp white peach. Dry and with good body.

Cayenna SubMariner 2022
Weaker or perhaps more subtle than the Indolente Vermentino. Maybe it needs to open up in the glass.

I therefore decided to proceed with the purchase, through a reseller. I bought:

• 2 Indolente Cannonau di Sardegna Riserva 2021
• 2 Hassan IGT Isola dei Nuraghi 2020
• 2 Herculis Isola dei Nuraghi IGT 2021

For a cost of 157 euros, which, at current prices, means I expected to receive, on average, good wines. Price-quality ratio aside, I was also intrigued by the idea of getting to know better a wine area that was almost unknown to me. The reality of the bottles purchased, however, even without significant mistakes by the producer, disappointed me.

Hassan 2020 — 19/06/2025, sandwich with venison
Ruby red with garnet reflections. A black punch in the face: you see the knuckles, you make out the details as it comes… but it comes hard. The nose kicks into high definition and high tone, with no escape: blueberries, plums, blackberries, black cherry, licorice and coffee beans. So much, and with an inevitable intensity.

In the mouth that sensation increases: powerful body, but too much alcohol, really too much. There is acidity and elegant, astringent tannins on the gums, but it’s hard to focus on them when a train is hitting you. Plum and blueberry return, and in the finish you glimpse potentially fascinating notes of toasted coffee beans and a roasted cocoa bitterness… but in the end it’s mostly the coarse, dominant alcohol that emerges. Fruit of great purity, though a very demanding glass. On the sandwich, instead, it worked: it gave it depth and dimension.

Herculis 2021 — 11/07/2025, T-bone steak
Deep ruby red, almost black. A vortex that gains thickness the more you enter it: the first layer is aromatic, the last is pure sensory experience. It’s a “high” wine, lifted, that gains weight over time. The nose starts aromatic: violets, freshly sharpened pencil lead, eucalyptus, bark, resin, menthol; then it gives way to a more substantial cherry.

The body is smooth, but the concentrated fruit has a powdery texture that clashes with the soft, fine-grained tannins of medium grip, perceived on the gums and in the first part of the mouth. It’s precisely this tension between light spirit and fierce needs that makes it notable. On the palate come fresh asphalt and again that resin/bark. There is a joyful undertone that fights with the seriousness of the body. The sip stays taut thanks to great acidity: chapeau for having kept the alcohol in check in a wine that never loses depth. The finish isn’t very long, even though notes of dark chocolate close it with a bitterness that encapsulates; and a certain aggressive, pungent spiciness is impossible not to notice. Wine born for meat: the flavors twist together, then the acidity closes the sip with depth.

Indolente Rosso 2021 — 30/09/2025, pasta with pine-nut pesto, sun-dried tomatoes and mozzarella
Ruby red with purplish highlights. A demon writhing on the palate: attractive and powerful. The nose is very attractive, yet it didn’t seduce me. There is sour cherry, chocolate pudding, pungent clove, bramble and the ferrous note of blood. Layered and intoxicating, immediately with a demanding personality.

Full body, but it keeps a bit of freshness, also thanks to a decent acidity. The tannin is the “classic” Grenache one: without a precise shape but focused inside the mouth, solid without ever overpowering. I’d say the structure is well calibrated, even if the alcohol level was again difficult to drink. The muscular palate pushes on overripe plums and ripe dark fruit, cinnamon and again chocolate. The finish is quite long: tobacco, star anise, smoked meat and again chocolate. It’s heavy: it’s in its nature. But it is too concentrated on its own power, and misses the chance to show what it would have been if it had shouted a little less. Surprisingly in tune with the freshness of the pasta, even if the alcohol really seemed excessive.

Herculis 2021 — 25/11/2025
Intense ruby red. A swarm of black dots converging into a big, alcoholic and dense finish. The nose is very rich, bold, perfectly in line with the blend’s soul: dark cherry, smoke, blackberries, opulent figs dipped in chocolate. A powerful opening approach.

In the mouth it is pleasantly balanced, with a body between medium and full, with weak tannins scattered in the mouth. The acidity guides the sip well: there is almost a sense of freshness. The heat of the alcohol (15%) seems ethereal, not invasive. The fruit concentration brings flavors of fleshy blackberries and blueberries. What I didn’t like is the finish: very warm and pungent, where the alcohol takes over. Unfortunately it covers the austere notes of cassis and black pepper.

The theme of alcohol in all these wines is therefore really invasive. Personally, warm wines with significant alcoholic notes (I’m thinking for example of Châteauneuf-du-Pape) I like, and quite a lot, so the style and character of Tenuta Asinara’s wines should suit me. Instead I found them really too shifted toward an alcoholic fire that doesn’t warm but burns the aromas and nuances.

Perhaps Grenache also isn’t in my tastes. Once Hugh Johnson said that this varietal is recognized by generous fruit, which however, with the engine at full throttle of alcohol, ends up truly beyond the guard rail. Hard to say whether this very opulent character comes from the terroir or from cellar choices. Reading the technical sheets, I believe it’s the former because both in the vineyard and in the grape-processing phase Tenuta Asinara seems to follow excellent practices, which should enhance the fruit and not annihilate it.

So, as of today, with two bottles still in the cellar, I recognize the wines’ technical quality, but their style does not marry with my tastes, despite not having prejudices toward the type. Herculis is valid, sometimes surprising. Indolente Rosso does its job. While Hassan is an alcoholic bomb that is very difficult to manage. In short, I would never say they are bad wines, but they certainly didn’t win me over.

Not Just Wine: Sardinian Wines vs Sardinian Liqueurs

If the wines from Tenuta Asinara left me with mixed feelings, there is another Sardinian product worth mentioning when talking about this island and its relationship with the glass: vermouth. Sardinia has its own tradition of producing aromatised wines, with local botanical herbs that have nothing to envy from their Piedmontese or Catalan counterparts — the two historic capitals of the category.

A concrete example: at Selezione Italia, one of the most interesting wine fairs to pass through Vienna, I stumbled upon the stand of Silvio Carta, a Sardinian producer. His Vermouth Rosso N.V. was one of the most enjoyable discoveries of that day: salted caramel, fruit cake, dark honey and dried apricots on the nose, with the structure of a fortified wine that never feels heavy. A serious, aged product, with the complexity you’d expect from a region accustomed to working with intense ingredients.

The parallel with the wines of Tenuta Asinara is no coincidence. In both the Herculis and the Cannonau Indolente, you can sense the same Sardinian tendency towards intensity, concentration, ripe fruit that makes no apologies. It’s almost a throughline of the island: whether it’s an IGT red or an artisanal vermouth, Sardinia doesn’t do things by halves. The problem — or the virtue, depending on your taste — is that this generosity can easily tip into exuberance. In Silvio Carta’s vermouth, that exuberance finds balance in the structural bitterness and ageing; in the reds of Tenuta Asinara, at least for my palate, something remains out of kilter.