IGT Red

Argiolas Turriga

Argiolas
Grapes
Carignano, Bovale
Denomination
Isola dei Nuraghi IGT
Region
Sardinia
ABV
14.5%
Body
Medium to full
Drink
Now–2041

Sardinia's benchmark red: old-vine Cannonau with Carignano, Bovale and Malvasia Nera from the Turriga vineyard, shaped with Giacomo Tachis. Two years in French barriques; powerful, herb-laced, built to cellar. The 2021 swept Italy's guides.

Best price
£94.00

2021 · 75cl · checked 12 Sep

Prices read daily from 3 UK retailers. We earn a commission on some links; it never changes the order.

Where to buy Turriga

£94.00 best price · 3 retailers in stock · checked 13 Sep 2026

Stock is shown where the retailer publishes it, offers are sorted by price, and unavailable offers can’t be clicked.

Xtrawine Best price 2021 · 75cl · checked 12 Sep
Read from the retailer's page once a day. Confidence is low, so treat it as a guide and confirm at the retailer.
£94.00 £125.33/L
Hedonism Best price 2021 · 75cl · checked 1 Sep
Read from the retailer's page once a day. Confidence is low, so treat it as a guide and confirm at the retailer.
£101.00 £134.67/L
Millesima Best price 2021 · 75cl · checked 13 Sep
Read from the retailer's page once a day. Confidence is low, so treat it as a guide and confirm at the retailer.
£103.40 £137.87/L

Stock status is read from each retailer’s page once a day and may lag.

Tasting Notes

Tasting notes for Argiolas Turriga 2021

Built from James Suckling's release note, the producer's own scheda and the taste summary of Vivino's 18,000-strong crowd. Argiolas talks about a very high 'souplesse' index; young Turriga still wants a decant.

Tasted by
ItalianWines editorial (drinker consensus)
Tasted on
4 August 2026
Vintage in glass
2021
Source
Drinker consensus · confidence Medium
Taste profile
Body Light / Full
Tannins Smooth / Grippy
Sweetness Dry / Sweet
Acidity Soft / Crisp
Nose

The 2021 opens on blackcurrant and black cherry wrapped in the bark, graphite and milk chocolate James Suckling logged at release. Vivino's crowd points the same way: oak, tobacco and vanilla lead its taste summary with 513 mentions, layered over Mediterranean scrub and dark fruit.

CoffeeCoffee
Black cherryBlack cherry
BlackberryBlackberry
BlackcurrantBlackcurrant
PlumPlum
TobaccoTobacco
LeatherLeather
LiquoriceLiquorice
VanillaVanilla
Palate

Full-bodied at 14.5%, dense and tightly wound in youth, the product of 16 to 18 day macerations with delestage in steel. The calcareous, rocky Turriga vineyard, gobelet-trained since 1970, keeps the acidity precise, so plum and blackberry stay fresh under the firm tannic frame.

Finish

Long and persistent in the house's high-souplesse style, closing on liquorice and roasted coffee over the lightly toasted note Suckling found on the 2021.

Overall

This is the wine La Repubblica said 'cleared Sardinian red wine through customs': Argiolas's flagship, rated 4.4 from nearly 18,000 Vivino reviews. Decant the 2021 now or cellar it into the 2030s; it sits at the very top of the estate's range.

Drink now Best by 2041
Live UK pricing

Where to buy Turriga in the UK

Two merchants list the 2021 at £98.50 to £101 for 75cl. With production around 40,000 to 50,000 bottles and a full guide sweep behind this vintage, allocations do not linger.

Best price · 75 cl £94.00 at xtrawine
Price spread £94.00 - £103.40 Across 3 UK retailers tracked
Retailers tracked 3UK 3 in stock
Vintages live 2021 Current release: 2021
Per-litre (75 cl basis) £125.33 Per-litre price for the lowest current offer
Last checked 13 Sep 2026 Refreshed once every 24 hours
Wine fit score

How Turriga scores on the Italian Wine Fit Score

Turriga profiles as a cellar and occasion wine: 14.5%, firm tannin, £98.50 upwards. It scores low for beginners and weeknights, high for patience and the big table.

Best for an occasion 9.2/10

Sardinia's most decorated red: Tre Bicchieri, 5 Grappoli and Veronelli's Stella Polare for the 2021, an icon pedigree running back to 1988, and a price that marks the occasion itself.

Best for cellar 9.0/10

Isola dei Nuraghi IGT mandates no ageing, but the wine delivers it anyway: 24 months in French barriques, a further year in bottle, and Vinous retrospectives showing vintages back to 1988 still alive; drink the 2021 from 2026 to about 2041.

Best with food 7.2/10

Built for the table but only the big end of it: firm tannin and 14.5% body need game, char-grilled beef, roast lamb or aged pecorino, not delicate or spicy plates.

Best value 6.5/10

No category price aggregate exists, so judged editorially: £98.50 to £101 buys Sardinia's icon with a 2021 guide sweep, well under fellow Tachis icons like Sassicaia at roughly twice the price, but far above £25 to £40 Cannonau riservas.

Best intro to this style 3.0/10

A tightly wound, tannic 14.5% blend that needs decanting and cellar patience at around £100; start with Argiolas's Costamolino or a Cannonau di Sardegna before this.

Best everyday bottle 1.0/10

The inverse of its cellar score: a £98.50 to £101 single-vineyard flagship made in about 40,000 to 50,000 bottles is an event wine, not a Tuesday pour.

Scoring is rule-based and deterministic. The model and weightings are documented in our Wine Fit Score methodology.

Denomination Compliance Snapshot

Isola dei Nuraghi in five fields

A compact view of what the Isola dei Nuraghi denomination actually requires, and how this bottle sits inside it. Pulled from the official Italian disciplinare.

Allowed grapes
Variety list not yet recorded
This bottle: Carignano, Bovale.
Minimum ageing
Recorded by producer
Disciplinare ageing rule not yet recorded.
Region / area
Entire region of Sardinia
Source: Disciplinare.
Style
IGT · Isola dei Nuraghi
Classification
IGT (Indicazione Geografica Tipica)
Vintages

Turriga 2021: a guide-sweep vintage

Gambero Rosso gave the 2021 Tre Bicchieri, Bibenda 5 Grappoli, and Veronelli 97 points with its Stella Polare. James Suckling calls it drinkable now, best from 2026.

2021 Current release
Lowest price
£94.00
Retailers
3 in stock
ABV
14.5%
Window
Drink now through 2041

A guide-sweep year for Turriga: Gambero Rosso Tre Bicchieri, Bibenda 5 Grappoli and 97 points with the Stella Polare in Veronelli's 2026 guide. James Suckling rates the 2021 drinkable now but best from 2026; expect it to reward cellaring into the 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.

The disciplinare, the place, the label

Why Sardinia's greatest red is 'only' an IGT

Isola dei Nuraghi IGT spans the whole island and lets producers blend any authorised Sardinian grapes. Tachis used that freedom to join Cannonau, Carignano, Bovale Sardo and Malvasia Nera in one wine; no DOC of 1988 allowed it.

01

DOC, DOCG, IGT: what the badges mean

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.

Isola dei Nuraghi is in the IGT tier. That is not a quality verdict, it is a description of how much freedom the producer has at vinification and ageing.

02

The denomination rules, in detail

  • Allowed grapes. Varieties not yet recorded
  • Tasting panel. No mandatory pre-release tasting
03

Region and area context

Isola dei Nuraghi falls within Sardinia, covering Entire region of Sardinia.

The zone the estate stands in The producer

Made at Argiolas, Serdiana. Directions

04

Reading the label

  • ArgiolasProducer / estate
  • Carignano · BovaleGrape varieties
  • Isola dei Nuraghi IGTGeographic indication and quality tier
  • 2021Vintage (year of harvest)
  • 14.5% vol · 75 clAlcohol by volume and bottle size
05

What sits behind the price of Turriga

Tracked from
£94.00
Direction
Mostly cost up
Drivers
4 up / 1 down
Main factor
Single 15-acre Turriga vineyard, gobelet vines planted 1970
  1. 01

    Single 15-acre Turriga vineyard, gobelet vines planted 1970

    Cost up

    The producer's sheet lists yields of just 1.6 to 2.0 tons per acre from the calcareous, rocky Turriga site between Senorbi and Selegas; hand-harvesting a tiny old-vine crop is the biggest lever in the £98.50 price.

  2. 02

    Three unsold years: 24 months in French barriques plus bottle age

    Cost up

    Argiolas holds Turriga around two years in French oak barriques and a further 12 to 14 months in bottle before release, so every vintage carries three years of barrel and cellar cost before a single bottle is sold.

  3. 03

    Icon status and a 2021 guide sweep

    Cost up

    Tre Bicchieri from Gambero Rosso, Bibenda's 5 Grappoli and 97 points with Veronelli's Stella Polare for the 2021 keep global demand ahead of a production of roughly 40,000 to 50,000 bottles a year.

  4. 04

    UK duty and VAT

    Cost up

    About £19 of the £98.50 UK price is tax: £2.67 still-wine duty at 2026 HMRC rates plus £16.42 of VAT.

  5. 05

    IGT classification adds no mandated cost

    Cost down

    The Isola dei Nuraghi disciplinare sets no minimum ageing or oak, only an 18 tonnes per hectare yield ceiling for reds. Turriga's premium is house-made, not classification rent.

01

Single 15-acre Turriga vineyard, gobelet vines planted 1970

Cost up

The producer's sheet lists yields of just 1.6 to 2.0 tons per acre from the calcareous, rocky Turriga site between Senorbi and Selegas; hand-harvesting a tiny old-vine crop is the biggest lever in the £98.50 price.

Perfect Pairings

Dishes that go with this wine

Food Pairing

What to eat with Turriga

Argiolas's own list runs wild boar stew, furred game, spiced red meats and aged pecorino sardo; Vivino's crowd adds beef, lamb and pasta. The cards below explain the structure behind each match.

Tannin softening Strong match

Slow-cooked game and wild boar

Argiolas's own pairing list starts with cinghiale in umido, wild boar stew. Long braising melts collagen into the sauce, and that gelatine-rich fat softens Turriga's dense, tightly wound tannins while the wine's dark fruit meets the sweetness of slow-cooked meat.

Try with: Venison Stew · Agnello Ragu Lucano · Porchetta · More pairings →

Fat cutting Strong match

Char-grilled beef: bistecca and ribeye

James Suckling notes the 2021's long, refreshing, precise acidity. With firm tannin behind it, that acidity scrubs seared beef fat from the palate between bites, which is why a Cannonau-led red and bistecca alla fiorentina work so well together.

Try with: Fiorentina steak · Ribeye steak · Steak · More pairings →

Body matching Good match

Roast lamb, rare to slow-cooked

Lamb is one of the three foods Vivino's crowd pairs with Turriga most. A 14.5% full-bodied blend with ripe black fruit has the weight to match roast lamb's richness, and the wine's Mediterranean herb streak echoes rosemary and thyme in the pan.

Try with: Roast Lamb with Mint Sauce · Leg of lamb · Rack of lamb · Lamb shank · More pairings →

Salt balance Good match

Aged pecorino sardo

The producer's list ends with pecorino sardo stagionato for a reason: the cheese's salt and savoury crystals balance Turriga's ripe 14.5% fruit, while its fat cushions the tannin. A wedge with pane carasau is the island's own way to finish the bottle.

Try with: Pecorino sardo e pan carasau · Cheese board · mature farmhouse cheddar

Aromatic bridge Good match

Porcini and earthy mushroom dishes

Winebow's producer sheet singles out roasted wild mushrooms, and Vivino drinkers log 261 mentions of earthy notes: leather, smoke, forest floor. Those shared savoury aromatics bridge the wine to porcini risotto and mushroom-laced braises.

Try with: Porcini mushroom risotto · Beef wellington · Beef stew

Avoid Clash

Chilli heat and delicate seafood

At 14.5% with dense tannin, Turriga amplifies capsaicin burn, so hot dishes turn harsh and alcoholic. The same tannin reads metallic against briny oysters and delicate white fish. Pour a Vermentino di Sardegna for those tables and keep Turriga for the meat.

Skip with: Szechuan beef · Lamb bhuna · oysters · grilled sea bass · Pairing guide →

Drinking + cellar

Cellaring Turriga: a record from 1988

Vinous has twice retasted Turriga back to its 1988 first vintage and found the early releases alive and well. Bank on 15 to 20 years for the 2021: James Suckling says best from 2026, and the estate releases each vintage only after three years of oak and bottle age.

Drinking window
2026 → 2041

Best in the years above; holds without falling over either side.

Cellar potential
High

Isola dei Nuraghi IGT mandates no ageing, but the wine delivers it anyway: 24 months in French barriques, a further year in bottle, and Vinous retrospectives showing vintages back to 1988 still alive; drink the 2021 from 2026 to about 2041.

Buy now or wait?
Buy now

£94.00 is the lowest tracked offer for the current vintage and we have no signal of further discounting.

Sources & trust

Sources behind this Turriga page

Prices & stock

Read directly from each retailer’s public product page once a day. Last refresh: 13 Sep 2026, 01:22 BST. We do not hold stock and we do not accept payment for placement.

Confidence · High
Tasting notes

Drawn 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 · Medium
Appellation rules & ageing

From the official Italian disciplinare for this denomination, cross-checked against the Ministry of Agriculture register.

Confidence · High
Why it costs what it costs

Our 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 · Medium
Drink window & cellar potential

Style guidance for this kind of wine at this price point. Treat it as advice, not a forecast for the bottle in your hand.

Confidence · Medium
Related

Turriga's place in Sardinian wine

Grapes
Carignano Bovale
Denomination
Isola dei Nuraghi IGT

Common Questions

Turriga is the flagship red of Argiolas, the family winery founded in 1938 in Serdiana, southern Sardinia. Created with consulting oenologist Giacomo Tachis, its first vintage was 1988, and it is widely treated as Sardinia's benchmark red wine.

Turriga is 85% Cannonau with 5% each of Carignano, Bovale Sardo and Malvasia Nera, all Sardinian varieties grown on the calcareous, rocky Turriga vineyard between Senorbi and Selegas in the Trexenta hills.

Isola dei Nuraghi IGT covers the whole of Sardinia and allows any blend of the island's authorised grapes, so Argiolas and Giacomo Tachis could join Cannonau with Carignano, Bovale Sardo and Malvasia Nera in proportions no DOC of the time permitted. The IGT label reflects blending freedom, not lower quality.

Drink the 2021 from 2026 to around 2041. James Suckling calls it best from 2026, and Vinous retrospectives back to the 1988 first vintage show Turriga drinking well past twenty years. Decant a young bottle for an hour or two.

UK merchants currently list the 2021 vintage at £98.50 to £101 per 75cl bottle. Production is only around 40,000 to 50,000 bottles a year, so top-rated vintages like 2021 can sell through quickly.

Argiolas itself recommends wild boar stew, furred game, spiced red meats and aged pecorino sardo. Its full body and firm tannins also suit char-grilled beef such as bistecca alla fiorentina, roast lamb and porcini mushroom dishes.

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Turriga