The history of wine reconsidered following Sardinian discovery
Loris Scagliarini - August 18, 2004
The discovery of vine pips and sediment dating to 1200 BC in Sardinia is in the process of overturning the centuries-old belief regarding the origins of wine. In addition, the discovery is already chipping away at the snobbery with which mainland Italian connoisseurs and wine critics have regarded the Sardinian rustic wines. Italy, that year after year contends with France as the world's largest wine producer, is discovering that it owes a massive debt to sardinia's vintners.
Dutch and Italian archaeologists digging in the fertile Sardara hills north of the Sardinia's capital Cagliari, announced on August 3 that they had discovered ancient grape pips and sediment. The discovery may well means that Sardinia was the cradle of European wine culture.
DNA tests on the grape remains are being carried out by researchers at Milan's Bicocca and State universities to determine if the vines were imported from other ancient wine growing regions or are akin to local varieties.
"If the latter is the case we will have to rewrite the history of the origins of wine," said Massimo Labra, a researcher on the project. The latest discovery appears about to shatter the accepted theory that the earliest wines were imported to the region from Mesopotamia. "The hypothesis we are trying to prove is not only that the most ancient wine in the Mediterranean was produced in Sardinia but also that vines were cultivated on the island at the time that civilization was at its beginning in Mesopotamia and then spread to Egypt," Labra said.
Preliminary analysis carried out on Sardinian vines to trace their genes, will be compared with the data that one can extrapolate from analysis the ancient grape seeds found at the excavations conducted by archaeologists and botanists from Italy and the Netherlands backed by agricultural experts from Cagliari, to see if there are affinities with the wild native Sardinian vines.
 Earlier analyses carried out in Spain have already shown that the Cannonau variety of Sardinian grape, thought to have been imported from Spain toward the end of the Medieval period, is actually native to the island, as reported by Fabrizio Grassi, of Milan's state university, to the Corriere della Sera newspaper.
"The analysis shows a very high probability that Cannonau could be the Mediterranean's oldest wine," said Grassi
Traditionally, Italian connoisseurs and wine critics alike, have praised the established wines of the northern regions of Piedmont, Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia and have tended to look down their noses at the often rough and powerful wines of Sardinia and the south of Italy. This conception has gradually changed in recent years, mostly thanks to enological innovations in the southern regions and the well-deserved international recognition gained by their wines.
Now, based on the recent discoveries, proud Sardinian producers already are taking steps to preserve their newly discovered heritage. In fact, at a recent summit of the island's principal producers and agronomists, it was decided to eschew use of any imported vines, reported the daily the Corriere della Sera.
Dorgali co-operative director, Tattanu Piras, said that the genesis of Cannonau must be preserved. "We are launching a plan to renew our vineyards selecting only local plants," said Piras.
In addition to Sardara, hundreds of the 3,200-year-old grape seeds were unearthed near ancient vases and urns on archeological sites at Villano-Vafranca, on the rugged island's Campidano plain, and at Borore, in central Sardinia.
The poor conservation state of the ancient grape pips forced the researchers to adopt a special technique to unravel their genetic history. "We have developed a bio-molecular platform, that is a series of machines linked to each other, in order to extract the DNA of the vines," explained Massimo Labra.
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