Summary
Cantina Mesa is one of the best-known names in Sulcis, the far south-west of Sardinia. It was founded in 2004 by Gavino Sanna, one of Italy’s most famous advertising creatives, who returned home after decades in New York and Milan and built an estate near Sant’Anna Arresi that was meant to bring together wine, design and Sardinian hospitality. Around 70 hectares are planted mainly with Carignano, Vermentino and Cannonau; the Carignano del Sulcis DOC Buio and its Riserva Buio Buio rank among the island’s best-known reds. Since 2017 Mesa has belonged to the Marzotto family’s Santa Margherita group.
History
The story of Cantina Mesa is a story of homecoming. Gavino Sanna, born in Sardinia in 1940, built a career as a creative director in New York and Milan and became a legend of Italian advertising with campaigns for Barilla, Fiat and many other brands. In the early 2000s he decided to pour everything he had learned about brands and images into a very personal project: a wine estate in his homeland.
In 2004 Cantina Mesa came to life in Località Su Baroni near Sant’Anna Arresi. The name – Sardinian for ‘table’ – set the tone: Sanna did not want a prestige estate in an ivory tower but a place of conviviality, simplicity and love for the Sardinian land. From the start the estate had its own vineyards in Sulcis, one of the island’s oldest wine zones, where the Carignano grape has been grown for centuries.
The 2010 vintage brought the national breakthrough: the Riserva Buio Buio won the Tre Bicchieri of Gambero Rosso, the top award of Italy’s most influential wine guide. In summer 2017 Sanna sold the estate to the Marzotto family’s Santa Margherita group from the Veneto, which thereby made its first investment in Sardinia. The group (today operating as Herita Marzotto Wines) runs Mesa as an independent estate; Sanna remained associated with the project as the face of the brand for some time.
Location & Terroir
Sant’Anna Arresi lies in Sulcis Iglesiente, the south-western tip of Sardinia, a few kilometres from the coast and the lagoons of Porto Pino. Cantina Mesa’s vineyards sit between gentle hills and the plain that runs down to the sea. Defining factors are the many hours of sunshine, the Mediterranean climate and above all the wind: the Maestrale blows in from the sea almost constantly, drying the grapes after rain and keeping the vines healthy – a natural form of crop protection.
The soils of Sulcis are predominantly sandy and low in limestone, with clay and calcareous elements in the hills. On the pure sandy soils near the coast phylloxera never really took hold, which is why Sulcis still has many old, ungrafted Carignano vines trained in the traditional bush system (alberello). These low, free-standing vines withstand wind and drought and yield small, thick-skinned berries of high concentration – the basis for the dark power of Mesa’s reds.
Style & Philosophy
Mesa sees wine as part of an aesthetic. The winery – a white, minimalist building of over 5,000 square metres on three levels – was deliberately set into the hilly landscape and works on the gravity-flow principle: grapes and must move from level to level without pumps stressing the wine. The visual identity is just as consistent: the labels, designed by Sanna himself, usually show a single large word – Buio, Giunco, Opale, Moro – against a plain background and have become a trademark that is instantly recognisable on the shelf.
In the glass it is all about clarity and drinkability. The Carignano wines are built dense, dark-fruited and soft, with ripe tannins and Mediterranean spice; the Riservas mature in wood without masking the fruit. The Vermentino is made fresh, saline and aromatic, with more body and ripeness in the Opale version. Added to these are Cannonau, a Syrah from the valleys of Porto Pino and passito sweet wines from Vermentino and Carignano. Stefano Cova is responsible for the winemaking, while the vineyards are farmed conventionally but with a clear focus on gentle handling.
Notable Sites & Wines
The wines are organised in several ranges:
- Giunco – Vermentino di Sardegna DOC: the fresh, sea-spiced entry to the world of Mesa
- Buio – Carignano del Sulcis DOC: ‘darkness’ – the estate’s best-known wine, dense, soft and dark-fruited
- Buio Buio – Carignano del Sulcis DOC Riserva: the concentrated, oak-aged Riserva, awarded several times
- Opale – Vermentino di Sardegna DOC: the more ambitious, fuller Vermentino
- Moro and Primo Scuro – Cannonau di Sardegna DOC: warm, spicy, typically Sardinian
- Brama – Syrah from the IGT Valli di Porto Pino
- Gavino – Carignano del Sulcis DOC Riserva, named after the founder
- Rosa Grande – rosé from the IGT Isola dei Nuraghi
- Orodoro and Forte Rosso – passito sweet wines from Vermentino and Carignano respectively
The Primo range (Primo Bianco, Primo Rosso, Primo Scuro) offers uncomplicated everyday wines from the same varieties.
Awards
The greatest success is the Tre Bicchieri award from Gambero Rosso for the Buio Buio Riserva 2010 – an accolade for Carignano del Sulcis, a grape long underrated as a rustic farmer’s variety. Since then Buio and Buio Buio have been rated highly in the major Italian wine guides year after year and count internationally among the reference wines of the appellation. Beyond that, Cantina Mesa, with its architecture and label design, is regarded as one of the most frequently cited examples of how brand building and wine quality can work hand in hand – and it has played a major part in giving Sulcis and Carignano a modern image.
