Nuragus di Cagliari is a wine DOC of Sardinia which centers around the town of Cagliari and the eponymous province of which it is the administrative center. It was introduced as a DOC in November 1974, two years after the other Cagliari varietal wines (which include Malvasia di Cagliari and Monica di Cagliari).
These white wines, which have been produced in the Cagliari province for many centuries, are made exclusively from the Nuragus grape variety. Nuragus must account for at least 85% of the blend for the Nuragus di Cagliari DOC. The variety is popular with Sardinian growers because of its hardiness and adaptability to different terrain types, not to mention the high yields it bears.
The catchment area for this DOC covers the entire Cagliari province named in its title, but also nine communes in the easterly Nuoro province and approximately 70 in Oristano. The production conditions for the wine specify that vineyards higher than 500m above sea level are excluded from the DOC, as are areas with a humid climate, hydromorphic, excessively sandy or salty soils and those areas with a high proportion of rocks. While humid air and salty soils would be almost universally recognized as undesirable terroir, increased altitude and rocky soils are positively treasured in many wine-growing cultures – though this DOC chooses not to take advantage of its natural gifts in the latter respect.
A small quantity of Nuragus di Cagliari wine is exported from Sardinia each year, mostly to mainland Italy, Germany, France and the UK. A tiny quantity even makes its way to the United States, whose wine appetite continues to increase in the early 21st century. Its main consumer base, however, remains among the local population on Sardinia.
