Cannonau, sometimes spelt Cannonao, the Sardinian name for the widely planted red grape variety known in Spain as garnacha and in France as grenache (see sardinia). A high proportion of the grapes are grown on the east of the island to produce a varietal Cannonau di Sardegna, which comes in several forms, but most commonly as a full-throttle dryish red. Although the variety has lost ground since the mid 1990s, partly because as a bush vine it is low-yielding and expensive to cultivate, 5,422 ha/13,400 acres of Cannonau were recorded in the Italian vine census of 2010. The admirable Cannonau-based Turriga made by the Argiolas winery near Cagliari, whose development was greatly aided by the work of consultant Giacomo Tachis (see antinori), showed what could be achieved from the island’s old Cannonau vines.
