Mesa

Cantina Mesa’s History and Philosophy

Gavino Sanna is one of the best known names in Italian advertising in the world; born in Sardinia in 1940, he also lived and worked in New York where one of his contacts was none other than Andy Warhol. After his return to Italy in the late 1970s, he designed and managed campaigns for brands such as Barilla and De Cecco , Tuborg , Fiat , Simmenthal and Ariston (cookers, refrigerators and other appliances).

Business is not everything in life, however, and Sanna , a man of many interests, born in the north-west of his native island, has been, for years, a wine producer in the south-west of Sardinia , in the area known as Sulcis , to be precise. And not as a hobby or pastime: the property is made up of something like 70 hectares of extraordinarily modern vineyards and cellars, whose tiles on the facade, all black and white, have been reproduced on the label of his wines. This is an entirely professional activity, the production of wine, entrusted to Stefano Cova (assisted since 2016 by Michele Flore), has led to a series of excellent labels that have won a prominent place in all the descriptions of the best Sardinian wines and achieved commercial success both in Italy and abroad.

The wines of Cantina Mesa

The range, which mainly consists of local offerings, has been intelligently divided into wines that often repeat the same name, modified to indicate the quality level of the individual bottles: the Carignano del Sulcis  Primo Rosso  (“First Dark”, 50 thousand bottles) for example, the basic level wine was joined by Buio (“Dark”, 240 thousand bottles), a higher level, and at the top of the Buio Buio line (“Dark Dark”, another 50 thousand bottles).

Similarly, after a basic white wine, Primo Bianco , the excellent Vermentino , Opale , fermented and aged in stainless steel tanks, is supported by Opale After , a Vermentino aged in oak. Smaller productions of selected batches include Brama, a Syrah ; Embers , from an intriguing local grape variety, Cagnulari ; Malombra , a blend of Carignano and Syrah ; and the exclusive Carignano Riserva Gavino Sanna . A fragrant rosé, Rosa Grande , and passitoDOC Forterosso (MESA is the only winery in Sardinia and Italy to produce a pure Passito from Carignano grapes) complete the wide range, demonstrating what can be obtained in this isolated but too little known area of Sardinia .