The 18 wines
Gambero Rosso published the Sardinian list on 27 September and presented the 40th edition of the guide in Rome on 25 October, at La Nuvola in the EUR district, during Gambero Rosso's two-day "40 anni" event. The guide reviews 2,614 wineries and more than 23,000 wines and gave Tre Bicchieri to 540 of them, Italia a Tavola reported. Tuscany leads with 100. Sardinia's 18 are 12 reds and 6 whites. Towns mostly follow La Nuova Sardegna; the exceptions are explained in the note on the numbers.
Cannonau di Sardegna (9)
Cannonau di Sardegna 2024, Antonella Corda, Serdiana
Cannonau di Sardegna Classico Dule 2023, Giuseppe Gabbas, Nuoro
Cannonau di Sardegna CNS Memorie di Vite 2022, Quartomoro di Sardegna, Marrubiu
Cannonau di Sardegna Le Anfore di Elena Casadei 2024, Olianas, Gergei
Cannonau di Sardegna Nepente di Oliena 2023, Fratelli Puddu, Oliena
Cannonau di Sardegna Nepente di Oliena Vosté 2024, Iolei, Oliena
Cannonau di Sardegna Perda Rubia Riserva 2023, Tenute Perda Rubia, Talana
Cannonau di Sardegna Perdas Longas 2024, Francesco Cadinu, Mamoiada
Cannonau di Sardegna Tèrruas Riserva 2024, Su'Entu, Sanluri
Vermentino (5)
Vermentino di Gallura Superiore Sciala 2025, Surrau, Arzachena
Vermentino di Gallura Superiore Selenu X Vendemmia 2024, Tenute Gregu, Calangianus
Vermentino di Gallura Superiore Sienda 2025, Mura, Loiri Porto San Paolo
Vermentino di Gallura Vendemmia Tardiva Kari dì Pétra 2023, Saraja, Telti
Vermentino di Sardegna Tuvaoes 2025, Giovanni Maria Cherchi, Usini
Other wines (4)
Alghero Cabernet Marchese di Villamarina Riserva 2022, Tenute Sella & Mosca, Alghero
Carignano del Sulcis Bricco delle Piane Riserva 2023, Cantina di Calasetta, Calasetta
Nuragus di Cagliari Perlia 2024, Pala, Serdiana
Turriga 2022, Argiolas, Serdiana
Serdiana, north of Cagliari, has three awards. Oliena has two, both Nepente di Oliena, the name Gabriele D'Annunzio gave Oliena's Cannonau, Unica Radio notes.
Cannonau's rise over four editions
We counted the Sardinian lists of the last four editions by what each label says. Wines labelled Cannonau di Sardegna went from 4 of 17 in the 2024 edition to 5 of 17 in the 2025 edition, 7 of 17 in the 2026 edition and 9 of 18 now. Vermentino held at 5 in three of the four years and reached 7 in 2026. Everything else dropped from 8 in 2024 to 3 in 2026 and is at 4 this year: the Bovale, Cagnulari, Nasco and Mandrolisai labels that appeared in earlier editions are not on the 2027 list. Our companion post has the chart of all four editions, a one-page factsheet of the 18 wines and photos from the Gallura cellars.
Three wines appear in all four lists: Surrau's Sciala, Mura's Sienda and Tenute Perda Rubia's Cannonau, listed as a Riserva in the last two. Argiolas, Gabbas, Sella & Mosca and Su'Entu have also won in all four editions, though not always with the same wine.
Gallura: four Vermentino and the emerging winery
Vermentino di Gallura has been Sardinia's only DOCG since 1996. Four of the island's five Vermentino awards are from Gallura, against five of seven last year. Siddùra's Maìa, on the 2024 and 2026 lists, is not on this one.
Saraja, in Telti, has now won in three of the last four editions: with the Vermentino di Gallura Superiore Kramori in 2024 and 2026, and this year with the late-harvest Kari dì Pétra 2023. It also won the guide's Cantina emergente award for an emerging winery, the only one of the national special awards to go to Sardinia; Corriere Nazionale describes it as a «progetto nato in Gallura e in espansione verso altri territori della Sardegna» (a project born in Gallura and expanding into other parts of Sardinia). Tenute Gregu won with versions of its Pitraia in the 2025 and 2026 editions and this year with Selenu.
For anyone staying in Olbia, Mura is in Loiri Porto San Paolo, south of the town, Saraja in Telti and Surrau near Arzachena. Mura and Tenute Gregu both sell tastings through Winedering.
What the guide itself warns about
Gambero Rosso's commentary on the Sardinian list argues that Sardinian wine should be understood by place, soil and altitude more than by grape. «Non basta più parlare genericamente di Cannonau, Vermentino o Bovale» (it is no longer enough to talk generically about Cannonau, Vermentino or Bovale), it says, and calls for a rethink of the island's broad regional denominations, which «rischiano oggi di appiattire proprio ciò che rende unica e preziosa la Sardegna viticola» (now risk flattening exactly what makes Sardinian wine-growing unique and precious). Its summary of the shift is «dal vitigno al luogo»: from the grape to the place.
Its own list shows how far there is to go. Half of the 18 awards carry Cannonau di Sardegna, a denomination that covers the whole island, and Tuvaoes carries Vermentino di Sardegna, which does too. Of the nine Cannonau, two name the Nepente di Oliena subzone and one, Gabbas's Dule, is a Classico, from the historic Nuoro and Ogliastra area. Antonella Corda's carries only the denomination; the rest add a vineyard or brand name.
Who claims the result
Sardinia Terroirs, a network of nine wineries in Serdiana, Giba, Gergei, Marrubiu, Atzara, Oliena, Talana, Usini and Telti, says its members won seven of the 18: five Cannonau and two Vermentino, one of them late-harvest, Unica Radio reported on 26 October. The same article gives eight in one sentence and seven in another. Its president, Gianni Irde, said: "Seven three glasses out of eighteen make us happy, but we read them first of all as a signal on Sardinia" (Unica Radio's translation). Unica Radio also reports that half of the 18 went to producers making no more than 100,000 bottles a year, and that the Cannonau Memorie di Vite is Quartomoro di Sardegna's first Tre Bicchieri.
Our two picks, neither on this year's list
Our own favourites come from opposite ends of the island's wine and of the price list, and neither is among this year's 18.
Balari, Cantina del Vermentino, Monti. The frizzante Vermentino di Gallura DOCG of the cooperative founded in 1956 in Monti, the village that borders Olbia inland. Gambero Rosso's profile of the cooperative gives 500 hectares of vineyard and about 2 million bottles a year. A Sardinian retailer, Sardegnavini, lists Balari at 11% alcohol, aged in steel, from bush-trained Vermentino grown at 300 to 450 metres on granite, and lists it at €9.99. It is light, lightly sparkling and made for fried fish and a warm evening. For a visit nearby, we have written up a tasting at Tenuta Masone Mannu, another Monti estate.
Franzisca, Giovanni Montisci, Mamoiada. A Cannonau di Sardegna Riserva from a former mechanic who inherited an abandoned vineyard and restored its old vines, as the Italian retailer Callmewine tells it. The wine is named after his wife, Francesca, Franzisca in Sardinian, according to the London merchant Berry Bros & Rudd, which describes a plot of about one hectare on a walled terrace of granite grit and around 2,000 bottles a year. The US importer Kermit Lynch gives 650 metres of altitude, bush vines over 80 years old, wild-yeast fermentation and two years in large Slavonian oak casks, bottled unfined and unfiltered. Callmewine lists the 2022 at 15.5% and €99.90. It has been on the list before: Barrosu Franzisca Riserva 2020 won Tre Bicchieri in the 2024 edition. Mamoiada is represented this year by Francesco Cadinu's Perdas Longas.
A note on the numbers
Tre Bicchieri are awarded by Gambero Rosso's tasting panels; Winecouture reports the wines were selected in blind tastings over several stages. They measure one guide's judgement, not sales, prices or other guides' scores. The regional counts reported by Italia a Tavola add up to the national 540. Our edition-by-edition split classifies each wine by the denomination on its label: Turriga, a blend that includes Cannonau, counts as Other, as does the 2024 Ghirada Fittiloghe, labelled Barbagia Rosso. Gambero Rosso's own 2024 coverage gives the same counts: four Cannonau and five Vermentino. The "edition" is the guide's year; each list was first published the autumn before. Towns mostly follow La Nuova Sardegna, with these exceptions. La Nuova puts Gabbas in Oliena; we give Nuoro, the company's address, and DoctorWine places the winery a few kilometres from Oliena. La Nuova gives Mura's locality, Azzanidò, which is in Loiri Porto San Paolo. It gives no town for Fratelli Puddu, Iolei or Cantina di Calasetta; Unica Radio counts two Oliena awards, both Nepente. The Sardinia Terroirs figures are the network's own, as reported by Unica Radio.
Photo: vineyard rows in Gallura. Photo, factsheet and chart: Sardinia Blog.
Sources: Gambero Rosso, 27 September 2026 · La Nuova Sardegna, 27 September 2026 · Italia a Tavola, 26 October 2026 · Winecouture, 26 October 2026 · Corriere Nazionale, 26 October 2026 · Turismo Roma, Gambero Rosso 40 anni · Unica Radio, 26 October 2026 · ANSA, 25 September 2025 · Gambero Rosso, 26 September 2024 · Gambero Rosso International, 9 October 2023 · Gambero Rosso, Cantina del Vermentino profile · Sardegnavini, Balari · Callmewine, Franzisca · Berry Bros & Rudd, Franzisca · Kermit Lynch, Franzisca
Related reading
Elsewhere on Sardinia Blog: why Gallura already holds 35% of the island's tourist nights; how foreign and Italian visitor nights moved this year; and the study to protect Luras's ancient wild olives, in the same inland Gallura as Tenute Gregu. For tastings near Olbia, see our visits to Tenute Olbios and Capichera.
Sardinia Blog is published within the Rental12 ecosystem, an owner-operator letting homes it owns in Olbia and Golfo Aranci rather than a property manager acting for other owners. Its own guide to Vermentino tastings near Olbia and its press archive are company statements, not independent evidence.