JamesSuckling Interviews: Valentina Argiolas

JamesSuckling Interviews features innovative and influential winery owners, winemakers and industry notables representing the new generation that is shaping tastes, trends and techniques in the greater wine world. 

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Born in Serdiana on the Italian island of Sardinia in 1977 to a family of winemakers, Valentina Argiolas, the third-generation owner of the Argiolas winery, is perhaps the perfect blend of scientist and artist to lead the family venture into the modern age. Decidedly future-forward while at the same time fiercely protective of Sardinia’s unique cultural and historic provenance, Valentina follows in the pioneering spirit of her grandfather Antonio Argiolas, who founded the winery in 1939 and set about distinguishing it as a benchmark for quality on an island primarily known for bulk wine production.

Today, Valentina, along with her cousin Antonio and sister Francesca, is committed to further establishing the winery and Sardinia as a producer of premium, ageable and sustainably produced reds and whites, with a particular passion for and investment in the scientific study of the island’s indigenous varieties like nuragus and vermentino. Her creative approaches to marketing Argiolas and Sardinian wine to new audiences – including a video educational series, multimedia artistic collaborations and releases in the low-alcohol category – speak to her market intuition and years of diverse study of everything from classical literature and art to business and winery finance. Argiolas remains the leading producer of wine in Sardinia and is renowned for its excellent cannonau and vermentino wines.

Susan Kostrzewa recently talked to Valentina about maintaining the winery’s trademark style of freshness in increasingly hot and dry growing conditions, creating a biological database of native varieties for generations to come, how the island’s isolation has also been its advantage and why wine will always be a part of the human experience, regardless of trends and social tribulations.

Congratulations on making the JamesSuckling.com Top 100 Wines of Italy 2024 list with the Argiolas Isola dei Nuraghi Turriga 2020. Can you talk about the 2020 growing season?

2020 was a normal vintage, with a warm winter season, spring rainfall and average temperatures, and also excellent vegetative development. Not many atmospheric events, fortunately. We were able to cultivate at the perfect time. I say “normal” because with climate change every vintage is different than the other. In the past, Sardinia had the advantage of very consistent vintages.

That unpredictability in an already extreme growing environment like Sardinia must be a serious challenge. What would you say are your toughest obstacles in regard to weather?

The biggest problems this year are the high temperatures and a lack of rain in autumn and spring. The consequence of high temperatures is less quantity. For example, we have 15 percent less vermentino this year. We have the same quantity of red but less white overall and higher alcohol levels. The fortunate thing is that our historical grapes, especially native grapes such as nuragus, nasco and vermentino, are accustomed for centuries to suffering, to heat and drought. That's why these grapes can resist better than others.

How is Argiolas navigating this situation?

We are putting a lot of money and time and people toward studying how to minimize our environmental impact and manage climate change. Our goal is low-impact processes, including a plant-based extract to boost the vine resilience against increasingly frequent temperature fluctuations. We are also using beneficial insects, released on the vines to attack pests. Another fundamental approach has been sub-surface irrigation. We started that six years ago and have 40 hectares under that treatment, allowing us to save more than 40 percent of the water. We have expanded planting distances, increasing the volume of soil that the roots can explore and also expanding our aerial space for better development. It reduces the competition between plants and also decreases the sugar accumulation. This allows us to have less alcohol and obtain a higher acidity.

Your grandfather Antonio was a champion of preserving Sardinia’s indigenous varieties at a time when there was immense pressure to pull up those vines. Can you talk about your current work with the Experimental Vineyard for Biodiversity project and how Argiolas is continuing to protect and enhance native vines?

I am very passionate about this mission. My grandfather decided to plant only traditional varieties in the 1970s (though he had done some of this in the past). In 2010, we began a biodiversity project in Serdiana and have a vineyard dedicated to it. We started by doing a massal selection with a regular comprehensive agronomic culture, analyzing the plant health. We selected the best plants of 11 different Sardinian grape cultivars like vermentino, cannonau, monica, etc. from throughout the island. For each variety we planted 5,000 plants. The first step was analyzing the diagnostic situation of each plant, also analyzing the presence of the most common viral species. The second step took place in 2016 in Serdiana where we planted the best-selected clones – started previously in the vineyard – to analyze the characteristics of the vine, and that's why we do a lot of micro-vinification.

Can you talk more about that second stage of the project and your intent?

The object was to create clones for multiplication – a kind of database used for the future. In 2020, we focused most on the cannonau selection. We selected the best cannonau planted with different bio types, and planted five hectares in the Turriga region. We trained the vines in the abarello [bush-vine method] and pruned with the very short Simonit and Sirch method to protect the plant, limiting the use of irrigation. In 2020, we also planted 1.5 hectares of vermentino … different clones and rootstock studied by the University of Milan for the same aim, to select and propagate the best clones of vermentino for the future. In Serdiana, in 2021 and 2022, we planted 1,000 nasco plants, 1,000 vermentino, 1,000 moragas.

This is obviously important for the future of indigenous Sardinian varieties and not something that has been previously done, correct?

Typically, this type of work is done by a university, not by a private winery. The cost is huge, as well as the time required. We have two agronomists, one enologist, two technical people. We’re all involved. But this is the future of our production. This is our database for the next propagation. Our nursery, as I call it, protects the biodiversity, the genetic origin of the variety, the different bio type, but also the grape and the combination capable to better resist climate change and the new diseases that were happening over the last year.

Tell me about the Sisini and Sa Tanca vineyards in the south in terms of terroir and growing conditions. Do the wines made from them reflect a hallmark Argiolas style?

Yes. My grandfather was the first one that planted vermentino in this area in the ‘70s. It was important for us because it was his first “statement” purchase at the time, but also because it's the best area in terms of altitude. We are at 340 meters above sea level. The composition of the soil is a miocene or calcareous marl with a blend of clay and limestone. This characteristic geology is fundamental for the typical minerality and floral notes of, especially, our white wines.

At the same time, the vine position to the northeast, the constant, refreshing wind and the cold and dry conditions help us to reduce fungal disease, maintain a healthy growing environment and give the wines a very rich aromatic quality. The reds are rich in tannins and antioxidant qualities, the whites suited for longevity.

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Your old-vine vineyards are especially suited to producing white varieties with structure, body and an ageable character. Are ageable white wines an important statement for Argiolas and Sardinia in general?

Ageable white wine was previously very rare in Sardinia, excepting vernaccia. This was a dream of my grandfather’s, and before us no one produced vermentino with this capacity to age. But in 2016 he pushed us to produce a vermentino in oak. At the beginning we had a blend of vermentino and nasco, but from the 2000 vintage, we moved to Vermentino di Sardegna DOC. At 300 meters above sea level, we selected the oldest vines at around 25 years old. The selection was manual and was late in the harvest compared to the rest of the vermentino. It was fermented in five-liter oak barrels for nine months. The wines have a great elegance but also maintain freshness and aroma. We can’t say exactly how long they will age in future as we don’t have enough years yet to gauge it. It’s another kind of experimentation.

Your philosophy at Argiolas is connecting tradition with modern tastes. How do you think you've achieved this in say, an important Sardinian variety like cannonau? 

In the past, we produced wine in bulk like the rest of southern Italy. And when we decided to move to quality over quantity, we decided to create Turriga – our single-vineyard red of 85 percent cannonau – to represent our idea of Sardinia, which is very modern and international, but at the same time very original and capable of competing with the best red wine in Italy. We brought in [the late enologist] Giacomo Tachies as our consultant because we wanted to have a new, borderless style of wine made using only native or traditional varieties. In the past, cannonau was used for its high alcohol and strong tannins, and produced wine that was very difficult to pair with food. We experimented in the vineyards first, changing our training method, pruning, clones, etc. to obtain an elegant wine capable of age and serious structure.

As a third-generation producer, what would you say have been your greatest takeaways from the philosophies of your grandfather, father (Franco) and uncle (Giuseppe)? 

Their path was to exalt the richness and diversity of Sardinia and we’re still following this path, as well as focusing more on protecting the vineyard, the environment and the social sustainability of wine production. Our biggest investment will be in addressing ongoing climate change, reducing our environmental impact and protecting the plants to save the Sardinian genetic heritage. Our biodiversity program is the project of the second and third generation at Argiolas and it’s the heritage that we will pass to the fourth generation. This is our aim.

You’ve been passionate about connecting the art and culture of Sardinia to your wine brand, and are personally passionate about art, music and literature. Can you talk about why you see a connection to these interests and wine and some of the creative ways Argiolas has brought these to life?

I initially studied the classics: art, Latin and Greek, then moved into studying economy and working with numbers, prices, allocations, depletion but it wasn’t my calling. I wanted to connect my passions and my job, so in 2011 I pulled together an artistic limited-edition wine collaboration for the 2008 Turriga. I built up the courage to contact the famous Italian designer Antonio Marras, who was from Sardinia but living in Milan at the time, to ask him to collaborate on a special wine box painted to display the essence of Turriga. It was in the style of Kenzo. He called Paolo Fresu – also from Sardinia and an important jazz musician – and Marcello Foi, a famous novelist. Paolo created the music that could better explain the wine and Antonio wrote a corresponding novel. The national press in Italy covered us because it was the first time that four different artists, with me included in winemaking, collaborated like this on a wine project. As Marcello said, we all have the same souls as artists, and our Sardinian identity is expressed in our own unique ways.

As you travel in the global market, what’s the biggest misconception about Sardinian wine that you encounter? What would you most like people to know about the wines of Argiolas or the Sardinian wine category?

I found especially in emerging markets like Asia, Canada or South America, there is not a “wrong” idea about Sardinia. There’s a lack of knowledge about the island. The most important concept that I tried to convey is that Sardinia is one of the oldest lands in the Mediterranean; it was for centuries used as a transit point between Asia, Africa and Europe and we have been influenced by Phoenician, Roman, Arabian and Piemontese cultures among others. Sardinia maintains its roots while at the same time absorbing the influences of these other people. Our isolation allows us to maintain an intact genetic heritage in terms of grape varieties but also in terms of language (as Sardinian is not a dialect but a language) food traditions, etc. Our uniqueness is our richness.

Any new projects at Argiolas that we should know about?

Yes, we’ve just opened a small restaurant and boutique hotel. It is called Casa di Nonno because it was my grandfather’s house in front of the winery. The wine cellar was still in use. We’re rebuilding the five rooms, creating five suites. And downstairs there is a small restaurant, only 30 seats, with Chef Alessandro Taras creating the menu. The focus is Sardinian roots with varied influences.

You released a Masterclass series educating about Sardinian wine. Can you talk about other creative ways Argiolas is hoping to spread the word about the winery and Sardinia?

This year we released a new low-alcohol wine at 10.5 percent ABV to reach the young consumers and people more concerned with calories and alcohol consumption. Overall, we want people to understand that wine is not just a beverage, it is part of culture, of people from the beginning of the time and despite economic crises, consumption decline, health waves, it will always be part of human life. Life is so complicated.  Why deprive ourselves of a gift from Bacchus that gives us joy and lightness?

– Susan Kostrzewa