Panevino - natural goodness
Pull up an armchair and warm your interest in wine at the crackling fire of extreme passion. This is the story of Gianfranco Manca, formerly a baker, who, having taken over his uncle’s bakery, made delicious, prize-worthy Sardinian breads.
With the bakery there also came some plots of land with some very old vines that had somehow remained although practically neglected for years. Panevino – you can see where I am going with this. The vines were trained in alberello (goblet), the traditional bush-system used on the islands of Italy, numbered over thirty different varieties, but mainly Cannonau. Since he was already an expert at fermentation with bread, Gianfranco believed the natural progression would be to understand wine fermentation with the help of these vines. He set about rehabilitating the old vines and planted a parcel of new vines of Monica and Carignano del Sulcis, the local strain of the famous grape. Although he started making wine in the mid 80’s it wasn’t until 2005 that he was ready to put a label on it and offer his interpretation to the rest of the world.
The vineyards are located in a remote region 75 km from Cagliari in Sardinia. The farm is five hectares and includes olive trees, corn and vegetables. The estate, founded in the 19th century by Gianfranco’s family, has been passed from father to son in the Manca family.
Panevino means ‘bread wine’, The Manca family called their estate this because of the implications of these two items in life. Gianfranco explains: “The daily things, essential things, simplicity itself, daily life turned into a celebration every day.” “I bring all this with me to the vineyard; I hoe it, I prune it… the vineyard gives me in return bunches of grapes, actually very few but concentrated ones.”
The terroir is light schists on limestone situated on windy slopes about 500 metres above sea level. These slopes experience dramatic temperature fluctuations and give the wines a particular freshness one wouldn’t necessarily associate with Sardinian wines. Vines receive only one treatment of sulphur and lime. No fertilisers are used (although their donkey “may produce his own now and then!”). Harvest is manual. The Mancas use biodynamic methods in their vineyard, but they are only currently certified for organic farming.
Winemaking is simple and old fashioned. Approximately three weeks fermentation ( in open vats outdoors under a tree). Fermentation is not controlled, quite hot- the ambient Sardinian temperature after harvest. All the Panevino wines are matured in large oak vats of between 8-15 yrs old for a period of seven months. No fining, no filtering, no acidification. ”We use only grapes and prayers”. Hallelujah!
Alvas is the one white (or amber) made . Alvas means white in Sardinian and is also the heart of the word Malvasia which is one of the seven grapes in the blend. The blend of is a grape nerd’s dream comprising Retallada, Vernaccia, Nuragus, Seminano, Vermentino, Malvasia and Nasco. Alvas is an extraordinary white wine made with extended skin maceration (eighteen days). The motley cast of fragrant and spicy varieties features Retallada, Vernaccia, Nuragus, Seminano, Vermentino, Malvasia and Nasco. Nuragus has an interesting provenance: some experts believe that it was brought to the island during the XII century B.C. by Phoenicians; others believe that it’s a native variety because its name is similar to the famous neolithic stone construction of Nuraghi. It has always been a resistant and adaptable variety and a good yielder: for this reason it is also known as “pagadeppidus"(pay debts), “preni tineddus"(fill up vats), and “uva de is paberus"(poor man’s grapes).
Alvas is amber with a nose of orange flowers and verbena, notes of ricard and apricot skin. The wine picks up some tannin and a certain nuttiness from the skin contact. It pairs favourably with local fish dishes such as cartoccio di s.pietro = (John Dory) baked in foil with vegetables( artichokes, etc.) or cheeses such as pecorino or risotto dishes.
Tankadeddu is, by Sardinian standards, a feminine, fruitsome red wine. The name derives from Tanka an indentation in a coastline. Tankeddu is the name of the vineyard parcel where the young Cannonau vines are planted, the Monica and Carignano vines are from another vineyard parcel called Piscinacadeddu - the suffix deddu means “sweet little” in Sardinian. Cannonau 50%, Monica 25%, Carignano 25%. The Cannonau vines are young vines whilst the Monica and Carignano vines are older. Lovely and smooth this works well with a poacher’s bag of tuna, hare, kid meat and wild fowl, but not necessarily all at once.
VigneVecchie means old vines. The venerable vines are 150 years old and the blend includes Cannonau 50% with the remainder a gallimaufry of other indigenous varieties (Muristellu, Nieddu Mannu, Cagnulari, Tintillu etc.). As one might expect this has more poke with roasted fruits to the fore – plums and sweet blackberries – as well as the familiar roasted herbs and a hint of tarriness. Roasted kid or roasted game such as wild boar or venison, or local Sardinian dishes: Cordas or Tatallias both made from sheep or Lamb’s intestines stuffed with offal and vegetables, roasted on an open fire.
Girotondo is Gianfranco’s Amarone or Vino Meditazione. The wine is made from 90% of the grape called Giro, and also because in his words: “It is a wine of circles: friends sitting around a hearth, telling stories to each other, this name picks up the circular theme of the traditional and quite formal Sardinian circular dance: ballu tundu ( round dance). The vines are ridiculously old. Grown in the same lime rich soil conditions as the Malvasia it is a deep heady red wine of around 17%. It has become something of a rarity as local taste now prefer dry red wine. It is quite a sweet but with great depth and richness to the taste (this vintage spends time on the lees inherited from the three previous vintages). As well as drinking it with friends and putting the world to rights, Gianfranc recommends sipping it front of the fire on one’s own, meditating and when one is snacking on braised or roasted mushrooms, sharp goat’s cheese, or even almond biscuits. Need to get me a hearth.
