The Vini Mura farm is located at Azzanido (meaning land next to the boundaries of the snow in Sardinian). The farm was set up in its present location in 1975 by Mr Filippo Mura, but his father started buying allotments near Olbia in the 50s in order to plant vineyards. However, due to increased tourism to Costa Smeralda, all their land was expropriated in order to build an airport in the 70s.
Fortunately, Filippo Mura was able to fulfill the dreams of his father by planting new vineyards at Azzanido. By continuing the work initiated by his father and always being open to innovation, he succeeded in expanding the farm and improving the vineyards by means of working diligently and passionately. He has also passed on his passion for wine to three of his children who are working at the farm and promoting their products. In particular, his youngest daughter Marianna, who is an oenologist, is selecting what types grapes should be grown at the farm and is also following the whole process from grapes to wine.
The oldest part of the vineyard is getting pruned yearly in January and February when the vines are lethargic, meaning that they are not producing any buds. Incidentally, the oldest vines are also producing the best wine. Another part of the vineyard consists of vines which are only 2 years old and have to be supported in order to avoid falling down.
The fertile soil gives rise to grapes of diverse qualities, the black ones are used to produce the canonau (a native grape), while the white ones are used to produce the vermentino (originates probably from Corsica). Since the soil in Sardinia is acidic, the Sardinian wines are also slightly acidic.
Since the owners want to obtain a high quality wine, the grapes should be picked when there is an equilibrium between the level of acidity and the level of sugar in the grapes. The text above is some of the information willingly shared by Mr Mura. We were also invited to have a look at their wine cellar where we could see the wine press in addition to the big steel tanks where the must is stored for fermentation. During the fermentation the temperature may reach 20-30°C at which point the refrigerator starts operating, precipitating impurities in the must. This is the first step of the settling of impurities residing in the must. After 2 days the must is transferred to another tank, a process which is repeated regularly. Simultaneously, yeast is added in order to let the enzymes turn the sugars into alcohol. Finally, after a number of transfers, the wine is stored in wooden barrels or bottled for sale.
This wine farm produces the following wines:
- Canonau
- Baja e Cortes
- various types of vermentino called Sienda and Cherremi
