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.

The snobs love to put down Beaujolais Nouveau … as one of my toffee-nosed friends stated recently, “I’ve moved far beyond that gimmicky grape juice”.

Ah, how quickly the leopard changes his spots … that same friend once LOVED Beaujolais Nouveau, even through Easter (!), but now is much too good for it, and would be embarrassed to be seen carrying one of those colorful bottles.

Personally, I don’t love the taste of Beaujolais Nouveau, but have come to appreciate the icon that it has become. Think about it: is there any other universally accepted date in the wine industry than the third Thursday of November? Is there any other wine in the world that brings together so many different people, in events and ceremonies and do-good causes? Yes, Nouveau is an over-hyped public relations event for an under-performing wine — but the only folks complaining are either 1) jealous insiders who can’t think of anything to top it; and 2) pretentious wine geeks who can’t appear powerful and intelligent speaking about such a simple wine.

Nouveau is a hard wine to swallow for some — especially when they can’t pontificate about the mineral content of the vineyard soil, or the debate between Vosges vs. Allier barrels, or malolactic fermentation treatment, or some other information that 99% of the population can care less about. Yes, such a problem — a wine not for thinking, just for drinking.

In the meantime everyone else is having a grand old time uncorking the bottles, pouring it into styrofoam cups (egads!), spilling it on each other, and laughing and enjoying life to the fullest. It is, after all, the “wine without rules“.

For those of you who are interested, I managed to grab a glass of Nouveau just after the stroke of midnight, and scribbled the following notes.

Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais Nouveau 2006

Good color � purple with a bright, dark pink rim.

Nose is open, and clean, expressing bright, fresh strawberry and red cherry, with a touch of ripe banana and a ripe pastry / confection-like aroma (powdered sugar? does that even have a smell?).

In the mouth it is easy, very light, bright, fruity. Tastes a lot like Smuckers raspberry jam, or a cherry-flavored Jolly Rancher, though not quite that sweet (the finish is completely dry). At the very end of what is a longer than expected finish, you get a touch of earth, overripe fruit, and a layer of ripe tannin. The acidity starts to pucker up at the end of the finish; until then, it is mostly obscured by the juicy fruit flavors.

Is this a wine to contemplate � no � and, yes. It�s too simple to pore over, but simple enough to pour over. At the same time, it�s worth analyzing for a few minutes, if only as conjecture for the 2006 Beaujolais vintage. If we are to taste it as a preview to the “real” Beaujolais wines, then this Nouveau tells us that 2006 Beaujolais wines might have more tannin than in a typical year, and be slightly fatter and rounder than we�re used to. The ripe, bright fruit certainly suggests that 2006 will be a fine year, perhaps excellent year, for Cru Beaujolais. If the extra tannins do in fact come out in the spring 2007 releases, then 2006 may cellar longer than most vintages (not an outlandish thought � there are some Cru from the miraculous 2003 vintage that still need time).

After contemplating the possibilities of 2006 Cru Beaujolais, as perceived from this Nouveau, you can then proceed to do with the wine what you may. That includes drinking in paper cups, with ice cubes, mixed with soda, doused on strawberries, poured over your head, and, of course, served to company who “doesn�t like red wine”.

Furthermore, it is a good choice for Thanksgiving (what perfect timing!) — for a few reasons. First, it will match quite nicely with just about everything from the varied appetizers to the chestnut gravy to the cranberry sauce. Second, you can serve it to everyone — beer drinkers, white zinners, fruit-wine lovers, white wine-only�s, and semi-serious wine drinkers. Third, it�s a great way to get a wine snob wincing and whining (fun! fun!) � and what�s getting together with family and friends without a little argument?