When you are looking for a fresh-flavored, light-to-meidum-bodied, food-friendly red wine with good depth and a uniqueness based on its origins, and don’t want to spend a fortune, one region to consider is Sardninia (or Sardegna) in Italy. Perhaps best known for Cannonau (known elsewhere as Grenache or Garnacha), Sardinia still is a relatively unknown wine area outside of Italy. This is good news and bad news for wine drinkers in the US — bad because Sardinian wines are difficult to find, but good because what you do find is likely to be enjoyable and fairly priced.

The geekiest of wine geeks will be able to tell you that the wine to drink from Sardinia is the aforementioned Cannonau, but I’m telling you today that there is at least one other grape to consider: Carignano. Known as Carignan in France, the grape is often found in the same places where Grenache is grown — and used most notably in Languedoc-Roussillon in blends with Grenache and also Cinsault. In Italy, Carignano is rare — hardly found anywhere other than in Sardinia. However, it is in the Sardinian soil — particularly in the southwestern district known as Sulcis — that the grape reaches perhaps its greatest heights.

A great example of this grape from the Sulcis area is Santadi Grotta Rossa Carignano del Sulcis. If my quick brief on Sardegna didn’t interest you, maybe this will: this wine was created by the man who oversees the Santadi winery — Giacomo Tachis, better known as the winemaker from Sassicaia.

The nose of this wine shows ripe blackberry, black cherry, earth, alcohol. In the mouth, you enjoy a very smooth texture, ripe black raspberry, sweet boysenberry, and black cherry flavors upfront. Some black pepper, a touch of vanilla spice, and earthy, herbal elements appear in the midpalate and stay through the finish. Mild acidity, medium tannins. Finishes with dry black fruit, sweet tobacco, drying tannins — and lasts a lot longer than you might expect from a wine in this price range (about $10-12).

This is a nice, round, warm red with good tannins that will match well with hard cheeses, turkey burgers, poultry, and meatier fish, such as catfish and salmon. The acidity is acceptable but too low to stand up to some foods; keep it away from tomato-based dishes and fatty meats.

a-7 t-7 b-7 fc-8 v-8 ~ 87 Points

The US importer for Santadi Grotta Rossa Carignano del Sulcis is Neil Empson.

Find this wine at a retailer through Wine-Searcher or WineZap.