Arborea is a town on the west coast of Sardinia, just south of Oristano. Around the town, blocks of agricultural land are devoted mostly to orchard fruits, watermelons, cereals and more recently viticulture. Its DOC wine title was introduced in 1987, and the catchment area corresponds precisely to the Oristano administrative area. This stretches 50 miles (80km) from north to south along the Sardinia's west coast, and is 40 miles (65km) at its widest.
The Arborea title covers red (the most common variety), rose and white wines. Any varietal wine under this DOC is permitted to bear the name of its grape variety, provided the grape in question accounts for 85% or more of the wine. The reds and roses are made from Sangiovese while the whites are based on Trebbiano, making this one of the most 'Italian' wines of Sardinia, an island whose wines shy away from the varieties grown on the mainland.
The Oristano province is blessed with a warm, sunny climate, moderated slightly in the west by the presence of the Gulf of Oristano. The sandy soils continue inland for some way, particularly around Arborea. The town was only founded in the 1930s, after a significant area of marshland was drained to allow several thousands of hectares of land to be reclaimed – a similar story to that of the Medoc in the 17th century. The name Arborea is rather apt, and might at first seem to refer to the many trees planted around that time (mostly eucalypts, poplars and pines), which play an important role in holding the sandy soils together. Iin fact the name was established long before any of their roots, and comes from the medieval Kingdom of Arborea, whose coat of arms bore an green, uprooted tree on a white background.
