Ancient vines that resist climate change: innovative sparkling wine is born in Sardinia

Bubbles with a Sardinian flavor thanks to the rediscovery of the ancient island vines. This is the heart of Akinas , the Sardegna Ricerche e Agris project which involved over twenty companies, including wineries and farms, ready to bet on innovative sparkling wines.

Lasting three years, Akinas - financed with the Por Fesr 2014-2020 - discovered native vines with unmistakable aromas, ideal for sparkling wine production as well as resistant to climate change . The results of the work - which involved experts, technicians and entrepreneurs - described in the publication "Akinas Spin Ov - Innovative Sparkling Wines from Native Vines" which will be presented in Villasor in the Agris Sardegna conference room on February 16th at 10 am, are promising.

The first phase of the project focused on the rediscovery of the native vines of Sardinia: the old vineyards of the island were sifted - even the semi-abandoned ones - to define the "identity card" of the varieties found. Subsequently, both classic and Italian sparkling winemaking was experimented with, which gave more than promising results for over 25 vines including Granatza, Licronaxu, Pansale, Sinnidanu and Alvarega .

The objective is to produce a strongly characterized sparkling wine to make its way onto the market where Sardinia does not want to compete in quantity, but in quality and personality. The Akinas Spin Ov prototypes seem to have all it takes to win over consumers with bubbles with fruity and savory tones.

The ancient vines rediscovered by the project also have another advantage: as noted by the experts, some Sardinian varieties ripen late, a characteristic that makes them particularly resistant to climate change .

Akinas Spin Ov (Antigas Kastas de Ide pro Novas Arratzas de Inu de Sardinna – INnovative Sparkling Wines Obtained from Native Vines) is an important example of collaboration between public bodies and businesses. The path, created to promote development and innovation in Sardinia, is centered on the principles of the "cluster project" where we work on the creation of a group of businesses, we think about common problems or challenges, we experiment with new approaches, new products or processes and the results obtained are explored in depth.