Cantina Santadi's flagship red, made with Giacomo Tachis from old ungrafted Carignano on the sands of the lower Sulcis. New French oak frames plum, tobacco and chocolate around warm, smooth tannins: Sardinia's benchmark Carignano del Sulcis.
Built from old ungrafted Carignano on Sulcis sand and 16 to 18 months in new French oak, with plum, tobacco and chocolate the notes Vivino's drinkers cite most often.
Plum, blackberry and blueberry lead, the black-fruit core Santadi names on its technical sheet, wrapped in tobacco, sweet spice and the juniper and bay laurel of the Sulcis scrub. New French oak adds chocolate and a cedar edge. The single most-cited note across Vivino's 1,392 reviews is oak, tobacco and chocolate, so the barrique signature is real.
Blackberry
Blueberry
Plum
Juniper
Tobacco
Leather
Black pepper
Liquorice
ChocolateFull-bodied and warm at 14.5%, built on the ripe, polished tannins that 16 to 18 months in new French barrique give old ungrafted Carignano. Black plum and blackberry carry cocoa, leather and liquorice; a saline, sun-baked edge from the Sulcis sands keeps the weight in check. Drinkers consistently describe it as bold yet smooth.
Long and warm, closing on cocoa, tobacco and dark-berry fruit with a fine grip of new-oak tannin from Santadi's barrique programme that calls for food.
Santadi's flagship and Sardinia's benchmark Carignano del Sulcis Superiore, the cuvee Giacomo Tachis built from 1984. It rates 4.2 across more than 15,000 Vivino ratings, with the 2020 its top-scored recent year at 4.3. A structured, oak-framed red for grilled meat and aged pecorino, best from its third birthday and across the following decade.
Three UK retailers list the 2020 and 2021 between roughly £46 and £59 a bottle; stock moves, so the live table below is the current picture.
A bold, oak-framed Sardinian red: very strong with food and for special occasions, built to age, less an everyday pour at its £46-plus price.
Sardinia's benchmark Carignano, the Tachis-designed Santadi flagship at a premium price: a natural choice for a celebration or gift.
Bold but bright Carignano with firm barrique tannin and acidity: an outstanding partner for grilled red meat, lamb and aged cheese.
Carignano del Sulcis Superiore DOC with 16 to 18 months new French oak plus 12 months bottle and ripe tannin: built to hold a decade or more.
Lowest UK price near £46 against a Carignano del Sulcis average around £33 (ratio ~1.4); fair for a flagship icon, but priced above the category.
Scoring is rule-based and deterministic. The model and weightings are documented in our editorial methodology.
A compact view of what the Carignano del Sulcis denomination actually requires, and how this bottle sits inside it. Pulled from the official Italian disciplinare.
Compare tracked offers from verified retailers at a glance. Stock is shown only where the retailer exposes it. Logos, sale pricing, and the strongest offer are surfaced first.
Vivino rates the 2020 the stronger recent year at 4.3; Falstaff gave the 2021 ninety-three points. Both carry 14.5% and reward several years in the cellar.
Falstaff scored the 2021 Terre Brune ninety-three points. A slightly fresher season than 2020, it carries the same 14.5% warmth and barrique-built tannin; give it until 2025 and drink across the following decade.
A warm, dry Sulcis growing season gave ripe, full-bodied fruit; Vivino drinkers rate the 2020 the strongest recent year for Terre Brune at 4.3. Approachable from 2024, it should hold into the mid-2030s.
Drink-now / hold guidance reflects general style cues for this wine, not a forecast for a specific bottle. Where vintage-level editorial notes exist, they appear above.
Giacomo Tachis designed this cuvee for the Santadi growers' co-operative in 1984, and it remains the reference point for Carignano del Sulcis Superiore.
Italian wine law sorts bottles into a pyramid. DOCG sits at the top: tightly drawn boundaries, prescribed grapes, mandatory ageing, government tasting before release. DOC is the same idea with looser thresholds. IGT (Indicazione Geografica Tipica) is broader still, requiring only that 85% of the grapes come from the named territory.
Carignano del Sulcis is in the DOC tier. That is not a quality verdict, it is a description of how much freedom the producer has at vinification and ageing.
Carignano del Sulcis falls within Sardinia , covering Sardinia.
Old bush vines on phylloxera-free coastal sand are hand-worked and low-yielding, which lifts the cost of every bottle of Terre Brune well above bulk Sardinian red.
Santadi ages Terre Brune in new French barriques designed into the wine by Giacomo Tachis; new barrels and the cellar time they need are a major cost line.
The old bush vines are picked by hand over several weeks, far more labour than the machine-harvested vineyards behind cheaper bottles.
Holding the wine a further year in bottle before sale ties up stock and capital, reflected in the roughly £46 to £59 UK shelf price.
Cantina Santadi is a growers' co-operative, so vineyard and equipment costs are shared across members, keeping Terre Brune below an equivalent single-estate icon.
UK still-wine duty of £2.67 a bottle plus 20% VAT account for over £10 of a £47 bottle before the retailer's margin.
Dishes that complement this wine
The firm barrique tannin and 14.5% warmth want char-grilled meat, slow-cooked lamb and aged pecorino; Vivino drinkers reach most often for beef and lamb.
Sixteen to eighteen months in new French oak give Terre Brune ripe but firm tannins that latch onto charred protein and rendered fat, softening as they go. The 14.5% warmth stands up to a rare bistecca.
Try with: Fiorentina steak · Porchetta · Agnello Ragu Lucano · More pairings →
Bright Carignano acidity and a saline Sulcis edge cut through bechamel, marrow and slow-braised richness, resetting the palate between forkfuls of a heavy primo or secondo.
Try with: Lasagna · Ossobuco alla Milanese · Agnello Cacio e Ova · More pairings →
Mature sheep's-milk pecorino is salty and fat-rich; the wine's tannin and dark fruit balance the salt while its body matches the cheese's intensity. Pecorino sardo with pan carasau is the regional classic.
Try with: Pecorino sardo e pan carasau · Strong cheddar cheese · Blue cheese
Juniper, bay laurel and Mediterranean-scrub notes in the wine echo the herbs on roast lamb and the gamey depth of venison, building a savoury bridge rather than fighting it.
Try with: Roast Lamb with Mint Sauce · Venison Stew · Lamb shank · More pairings →
Full body meets full body: a long-simmered lamb ragu has the weight and umami to stand beside a 14.5% oak-aged red without either side flattening the other.
Try with: Agnello Ragu Lucano · Lasagna · Agnello Cacio e Ova · More pairings →
Bold oak tannin and 14.5% alcohol overwhelm raw fish and shellfish, turning them metallic, and amplify chilli heat rather than cooling it. Keep this bottle for red meat and hard cheese.
Skip with: Sashimi · Oysters · Sweet and sour pork · Pairing guide →
With 16 to 18 months in new French oak plus a year in bottle before release, the structured 2020 and 2021 hold for a decade or more from a cool, dark cellar.
Peak around 2029. Best in the years above; holds without falling over either side.
Carignano del Sulcis Superiore DOC with 16 to 18 months new French oak plus 12 months bottle and ripe tannin: built to hold a decade or more.
£46.12 is the lowest tracked offer for the current vintage and we have no signal of further discounting.
Read directly from each retailer’s public product page once a day. Last refresh: 7 Jun 2026, 14:17 BST. We do not hold stock and we do not accept payment for placement.
Confidence · HighDrawn from what drinkers consistently report on Vivino and Wine-Searcher, summarised in our own words. A crowd read across many tasters, not a single critic.
Confidence · MediumFrom the official Italian disciplinare for this denomination, cross-checked against the Ministry of Agriculture register.
Confidence · HighOur reading of the price, drawn from the disciplinare, public UK duty rates, and typical landed-cost benchmarks. Not a quote from the producer or a retailer.
Confidence · MediumStyle guidance for this kind of wine at this price point. Treat it as advice, not a forecast for the bottle in your hand.
Confidence · MediumTerre Brune is 95% Carignano and 5% Bovaleddu, a local Sardinian variety. The Carignano comes from old ungrafted bush vines (alberello, piede franco) rooted in the sands of the lower Sulcis in south-west Sardinia.
It is a Carignano del Sulcis Superiore DOC from the Sulcis, in south-west Sardinia, made by the Santadi growers' co-operative near Cagliari. It is a Sardinian wine, not a Sicilian one, despite occasional mislabelling.
After stainless-steel fermentation and an early malolactic, the wine spends 16 to 18 months in new French oak barriques, then at least 12 months in bottle before release. The cuvee was designed by the oenologist Giacomo Tachis, who made the first vintage in 1984.
Expect plum, blackberry and blueberry over tobacco, chocolate, leather and sweet spice, with juniper and bay laurel from the Sardinian scrub. It is full-bodied and warm at 14.5% but finishes smooth, with ripe, polished tannins.
Pour it with char-grilled and roasted red meat, slow-cooked lamb, and aged Sardinian pecorino with pan carasau. The tannin and oak need protein and fat; skip delicate fish and chilli-led heat.
Both the 2020 and 2021 reward five to fifteen years from harvest. Drink the 2020 from 2024 to around 2035 and the 2021 from 2025 to around 2036, with a sweet spot near 2028 to 2029.
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