"OUR STORY BEGINS WITH TURRIGA 1988", CREATED BY THE PATRIARCH ANTONIO ARGIOLAS WHO WAS BORN NEARLY A HUNDRED YEARS BEFORE, SO HE WAS STILL A “YOUNGSTER”, HIS GRANDDAUGHTER VALENTINA TOLD WINENEWS FOR # VINITALY50STORY

“Our story begins with the first bottle of Turriga 1988”, created by one of the true Italian wine patriarchs, Antonio Argiolas, who was born in 1906. He was still "young", undoubtedly in spirit and geniality, when he decided to create a wine that could compete with the greatest Italian reds, but from traditional Sardinian varieties. He was convinced that the great Sardinian wines and vines deserved a place among the best; so, he called on the top Italian winemaker, Giacomo Tachis.
Maybe it is because Sardinia is a land of centenarians, or maybe, as he himself said more than once, he drank two glasses of wine a day every day of his long, long life, the fact is that the Italian wine world is celebrating one of its pioneers and creator of a great wine, who lived to the age of 103.
These are the memories that Valentina Argiolas, head of the family winery, who starting working with her grandfather at a very young age, told WineNews, one of wine lovers’ most popular sites, for #Vinitaly50Story - the history of half a century of Vinitaly, narrated through the stories of its players, to celebrate the first 50 years of the industry’s international benchmark (Verona, April 10th to 13th; www.vinitaly.com).
“We were completely unknown, and our story totally changed with Turriga. The first time we went to Vinitaly, in 1991”, said Valentina Argiolas, “our wine immediately won an award and we got our first international customer, an English importer who is still with us today. That is also when we started to export and focus on international markets. Turriga was at the center of important tastings in Italy and abroad as well as a regional success story, and though the varieties were unknown then, thanks to this wine, they are famous all over the world today. It was a very special event when my grandfather went to Verona, as he was able to talk face to face with our foreign importers. He was open to all cultures”. The last time he left the island to go to Verona he was almost 90 years old, Turriga was ranked among the top Italian reds, and Antonio Argiolas celebrated his achievements when he received the award for "Meritorious services in viticulture".
“Tziu Antoni” (Uncle Antonio) was the core and leader of the Serdiana company for more than 70 years. His father planted the first vineyard in 1918, and he began his wine activity in the 1930s. He lived a truly extraordinary life, like the legacy he left to his family, Serdiana, Sardinia, Italy, Europe, America and Asia, where his wines are synonymous with quality. He had started an oil and cheese trade, then he decided to focus on wine, and when in the seventies, everyone was grubbing vineyards, he instead decided to plant them, in a land that had been cultivated with vines for thousands of years. He renovated and modernized the winery and production together with his sons Franco and Giuseppe and their wives Pina and Marianna, bringing the family business to the spotlight and bringing one of the greatest winemakers ever to Sardinia, to produce the great red wine Turriga.
The third generation of the family, Valentina and her husband Onnis Elia, Francesca and Antonio, and the winemaker Mariano Murru (who studied with Tachis) now produce the wines Angialis, Costasera, Is Argiolas, Korem, Costamolino, Is Solinas, Iselis and S’Elegas, grown in vineyards both inland and by the sea. They are all produced from Sardinian vines, some famous, like Cannonau, Vermentino and Carignano, others lesser known, like Monica, Bovale, Nasco, Girò and Nuragus, on the estates of Serdiana, Sisini, Sa Tanca, Vigne Vecchie and Porto Pino. Antonio Argiolas 100 is the wine dedicated to the 100th birthday of the family patriarch.