Alghero is a town on the west coast of Sardinia. Its DOC title was introduced in 1995, and covers a roughly rectangular area beginning at the coast and stretching inland for 20 miles (30km). This catchment area is significantly smaller than most other Sardinian DOCs, some of which overlap as they cover either the large southern Cagliari zone or the entire island.
The Alghero title relates to red, white and rose wines, which may be labeled with the name of their constituent grape varieties. Torbato, Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Vermentino are the white varieties sanctioned for use; their red equivalents are Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Cagnulari. Interestingly the DOC laws also permit the use of Carmenere, the variety which once reigned in Bordeaux but has now found a phylloxera-free home in Chile. All three colors are produced in both still and sparkling variants: whites may be semi-sparkling frizzante or foaming spumante, roses may be frizzante and reds spumante. There are also sweeter forms of the wines covered under the Alghero DOC: a dried-grape passito for whites and a fortified liquoroso for reds.
Alghero is a unique corner of Sardinia, distinguished most obviously not by its wines but by its choice of languages. Standard Italian is spoken here, as it is across the island, but so is Catalan, which made its way here with invading peoples from Catalonia in the 14th century. Over the centuries the dialect has evolved differently from standard Catalan, and has become known as Algherese, or Algurese.
