Southwestern Sardinia Tuna/Carignan Wine Edition

Bluefin Tuna and Red Carignan Wine—

In the brief video below I explain why southern Sardinian bluefin tuna are some of the tastiest on earth, and why this fish pairs well with local Carignan red wine.

(NOTICE! I realize there is wind impacting the audio quality on a few of the videos below. However, my Hollywood insider friend Steve Marks (reunited with during his Saint-Émilion a few weeks ago in this post) informed me of this, and he suggested a specific microphone to solve this. I've ordered it, so from now on—wind whistling, begone!)

Also, I am learning to wield a new DJI gimbal to make narration shots more swish, dynamic and engaging. Having no sense of direction, however, means that mastering this exercise in three dimensional fluidity takes time.

Note also—I am not sponsored, and do not receive free meals or wines from any establishments listed below (except for bottles from friends Stefano and Erica).

Seafood Meals with Wines in Carloforte, San Pietro Island, Sardinia—

Below are four meals, and paired wines, from four restaurants in the town of Carloforte, San Pietro, as well as a collage of photographs from each. The meals were amazing! I began with a lunch of linguini and swordfish eggs in season paired with Vermentino, and later moved onto various red tuna cuts paired with Carignano del Sulcis red wine.

All of these excellent restaurants (and one wine bar) within the charming and attractive coastal town of Carloforte are within a five minute walk of each other. All dishes with fresh food were beautifully crafted, and restaurant wine lists are varied and relatively extensive. Besides a few German voices I heard, all patrons appeared to be Italian—likely locals, as well as those from Sardinia and mainland Italy. Carloforte (population 5,800) is a small beauty!

Restaurants mentioned below were all recommended by winemaker and friend Erica Verona of Tenuta La Scogliera, located in Calasetta on nearby Sant'Antioco island. (I write more about her family winery under the Final Video section, below.)

Restaurant: Al Toni di Corsa

Dish—

Linguini with swordfish eggs (in season) and olive oil infused with lemon zest.

Wine—

Cantina di Calasetta. Demà. Vermentino di Sardegna DOC. 2025.

Restaurant: da Nicolo

Dish—

Tuna Fior Fiore is tuna with a herb coat that includes soy and balsamic; also eggplant caviar, tomato coral in sea water sauce. Cannoli dessert with ice cream.

Wine—

Cantina di Calasetta. Destè Rosato. Carigano del Sulcis DOC. 2025.

Wine Bar: Inderè Bistrot

Dish—

Carloforte Tuna Tartare—seasoned with oil, salt, pepper and lemon.

Wine—

Cantina Giba. G. Rosso. Carignano del Sulcis DOC. 2023.

Restaurant: Da Andrea

Dish—

Raw red prawns.

Wine—

Vigneto Santu Teru. Abarè rosè. Isola dei Nuraghi IGT. 2024.

Dish—

Girotonno—Cuts of tuna from different preparation methods

Wine—

Bricco delle Piane. Annata 2021. Calasetta DOC Carignano del Sulcis.

Wine Glasses in An Old Tuna Factory—Calici in Tonnara

Check out the brief introductory video below about a wine festival I bumped into in Portoscuso, on the south west coast of Sardinia. Yes, a little windy!

More Free Chapters From The Book Vino Voices: Wine, Work, Travel, Life—

I am providing ALL chapters from my book Vino Voices: Wine, Work, Travel, Life free here during the coming months.

This book (originally written over a decade ago) has been revised and is available as an e-book. The hardback and paperback versions will be available later this summer.

Click below to download pdfs of Chapters Three and Four—about lessons in blending wine from a cowboy/winemaker in southern Chile, as well voices from a table of winemakers in the Barossa Valley of Australia.

Another Free Recipe from The Winemakers' Cooking Companion Cookbook—

The Winemakers' Cooking Companion cookbook has been published! I spent years collecting and assembling these 108 recipes from 18 countries—contributed by winemakers, winery chefs and winery owners. Units are both metric and American, and recipes include several marked as vegetarian or vegan.

A lively and fun book launch will take place in September in my village in southern France—when four winemakers and four chefs cook up a storm of recipes from this cookbook! I'll let you know when this takes place in case you want to visit.

Recipe—

The free recipe below, from The Winemakers' Cooking Companion, is not from Sardinia because I have no recipes from that island in this book (next edition!). Instead it is from another region of Italy—coastal Abruzzo on the Adriatic Sea, from Tenuta I Fauri winery—submitted by dear friend Valentina di Camillo and family.

Final Video—Did You Know?

The following history was explained to me by winemaker Roboamo Stefano Verona of Tenuta La Scogliera, when he and his daughter Erica invited me to their house in Sant'Antioco for lunch on July 4th (Happy Birthday USA).

(Read more about this father/daughter winemaker team in my Forbes article, written during my last visit to Sardinia in 2025).

The town of Calasetta, in northern Sant'Antioco Island in southwestern Sardinia, and the town of Carloforte on San Pietro Island just to the north, are culturally different than Sant'Antioco town (located just a 20 minute drive away) and the rest of Sardinia. In fact, Stefano was born in Calasetta and his wife was born in Sant'Antioco (less than a half hour drive away) and they consider themselves to come from completely different cultures.

Why?

In the 1500's many residents of Liguria, on what is now mainland Italy, moved to Tabarka in what is now Tunisia, northern Africa, to dive for red coral. But in the 1700's Barbary pirate raids, as well as overcrowding, forced many to move out. The King of Savoy in Liguria in 1738 told them they could move to San Pietro Island off Sardinia, where they built Carloforte town. Then another wave of 38 families moved to Sant-Antioco and built the town of Calasetta in 1770. They brought their own language, an African Tabarkino dialect.

Also—in 1774, 30 families from mainland Liguria were sent to Calasetta to plant Carignan grape vines. Because of sandy soils, these vines in Sardinia survived the phylloxera disease in the 19th century, whereas most of those on the mainland were wiped out.

Today Calasetta buildings accentuate blue and white colors, and architecture reflects a Genovese/Ligurian style (such as the stone watch tower at the high point of town) and the residents of Calasetta and Carloforte maintain strong fishing traditions. They also speak their own dialect.

Stefano's own Tenuta La Scogliera wine is made from his Carignan vines, which are grown from ungrafted pre-phylloxera stock. Only about 5% to 10% of grapevines on earth today are made from such pre-phylloxera vines.

Stefano and Erica gifted me bottles of their Carignano del Sulcis DOC red wine, as well as their rosé. I'll include tasting notes and a photo of these wines in a coming edition.

What's Next In Vino Voices—

I'll soon feature:

• Tasting notes for Burgundian white and red wines from Louis Latour and Bordeaux Saint-Émilion wines from Moulin-Galhaud
• Recipe for Barili Chardonnay Chicken from Spokane, Washington, USA.
• How do heat waves impact the quality of wines in southern France?

Thanks for tuning in!

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