The Sardinian Family That Breathed New Life into the Deserted Hills of Marmilla: SU’Entu

A Sardinian winery, a love of the land, and a passion for hospitality; Su'Entu has been instrumental in reviving Marmilla's biodiversity, often focusing on indigenous grape varieties to produce world-class wine.

Winery

It is a land that we could call in some ways magical, Marmilla. It is at its southern border, where it meets Campidano, that a San Luri entrepreneur like Salvatore Pilloni chose to realize a dream by giving birth to Su'entu. It is a return to the peasant origins he left behind some 40 years ago to move into commerce. The property, the result of an elaborate amalgamation of more than forty notarial deeds, covers a total of fifty hectares, thirty-two of which are dedicated to vineyards.

Of these, the main part is related to native Sardinian grape varieties such as Vermentino, Nasco and Moscato among the white grapes, and Bovale and Cannonau among the reds, but there is also room for Chardonnay and Merlot. Four years ago, work began on expanding the estate to thirty new hectares, nine of them with new vineyards. Su'Entu has been instrumental in reviving the biodiversity of Marmilla, so much so that until about fifteen years ago, when the first vines were planted, its hillsides were abandoned.

Thanks to the presence of new vegetation, the place has been repopulated with wildlife, and today this is a true protected reserve where fourteen species of wild birds and small mammals are found. The wind in this area is of course a direct protagonist, decisively influencing agricultural policies oriented toward a sustainability that is not limited to protecting the ecosystem and the quality of the product, but also touches the territory from a social point of view, with investment in local workers, training, and the creation of a hub of professionalization that is fundamental for an otherwise difficult territory.

At the helm of S'Entu, which was the first to use the Marmilla geographical indication, are Valeria, Roberta and Nicola, the founder's children, who govern a total of 20 people, all local. The production includes eleven labels in total, with two sparkling wines, three whites, four reds, a rosé and a passito for about three hundred thousand bottles, the distribution of which sees half remain in Sardinia and two quarters one in Italy and the rest all over the world.

Su'Entu, however, is also so much more, as the winery has been a promoter of Le Stelle in Marmilla, the last one on March 20 last year, in which a day is dedicated to food, wine and territory by celebrating the new important awards of chefs operating on the island with spaces dedicated also to the outside region. Even the MICHELIN Guide has realized the great gastronomic potential of Sardinian restaurants (not only confirming the macaron to Stefano Deidda of Dal Corsaro in Cagliari and Italo Bassi of Confusion in Arzachena, but recognizing several new ones), Salvatore Camedda of SOMU, also in Arzachena, Francesco Stara of Fradis Minoris in Pula and Claudio Sadler with Gusto by Sadler in San Teodoro were also involved.

Domenico Sanna, the winery's head of hospitality and events, "We repeated ourselves this year with the third edition, two days in which we involved not only chefs working in Sardinia but also starred Sardinians working outside like Claudio Melis, Oliver Piras with Alessandra. Wine for us is a fundamental vehicle for promoting the territory and has an inescapable relationship with cuisine. So, in mid-June in our spaces will open a restaurant that starts precisely from the ingredients of Marmilla in which we have involved Piergiorgio Parini: a nice novelty, because not being Sardinian he has the right eyes to read them in a key not taken for granted as can happen for those who were born here. He has literally immersed himself in the territory."

Steadying the kitchen, in what promises to be a high-level trattoria, will be Francesco Vitale, an Apulian who has been in Sardinia for a long time now (but with a good deal of experience both nationally and internationally), first with Roberto Petza at S'Apposentu and then at Sa Scolla in Cagliari. If the venue is Su'Entu, the wind in Sardinian, the new gastronomic creature will bear the name Arieddas.

Wines

To return to Su'Entu's core, speaking of wines, perhaps the most distinctive expression is that of Bovale grande, which until about fifteen years ago was destined to be blending grapes. There are three versions, Su'diterra, the youngest and freshest, Nina, a rosé with a small share of Vermentino, and the more complex Su'nico. The winery's website reads "su - ni- co / s. m. Unique, by definition unparalleled. By extension something extraordinary and personal (ed.). Thus is Su'nico, genesis of our Bovale, a grape variety for too long considered minor on which the winery has built its challenge."

This is a wine that comes from a small hill along the road from Sanluri to Lunamatrona, in the center of the Middle Campidano region. The soil is limestone-marl, rich in clay. The grapes grow in a climate with large temperature ranges that give remarkable aromaticity. The grapes are harvested by hand, then destemmed. A week of maceration on the skins at the same time as alcoholic fermentation, which takes place at 25°C in stainless steel.

The wine matures for one year in first- and second-passage French oak barrels, then ages in the bottle. The nose reveals great character and remarkable intensity, including notes of red fruits and a delicate spiciness. Soft and persuasive in the mouth, its alcohol content does not overpower and leaves room for agile drinking and beautiful persistence. To be enjoyed soon with a dish from Marmilla, in Arieddas.