🍇 Nasco

Nasco is a white wine grape from Sardinia, one of the oldest on the island. Its berries have a thin golden-yellow skin, and the variety is used for wine only. It makes the dry, sweet and fortified wines of the Nasco di Cagliari DOC, where the rules call for 100% Nasco.

The origin of the variety is unknown. The appellation's rules treat it as a local ecotype that took shape on the island long ago, and they derive the name, once Nascu, from the Latin muscus, “musk”, but only as a supposition. In 1873 Nasco represented the wines of Sardinia at the Vienna World Exhibition. The VIVC catalogue lists no parents, but gives eight synonyms, among them Nascu, Nusco and Nasco di Sardegna.

The appellation covers part of the provinces of Cagliari and Oristano and all the land of Carbonia-Iglesias and Medio Campidano. The rules allow only vineyards below 400 m, yields up to 10 t per hectare and a wine yield of no more than 65% of the grapes' weight. The Italian register, which admitted the variety in 1970, allows it in one DOC and fifteen IGT wines of Sardinia.

According to the Italian ampelographic sheet, the vine is of medium vigour, crops moderately to abundantly and has medium resistance to frost, downy mildew and powdery mildew; it likes dry, sunny soils. In a 2022 study in one vineyard at Serdiana, Nasco gave only 50 q/ha, half the Vermentino next to it. The rules say the wine can show amber and topaz colours, with notes of honey, dates, figs and candied orange.

Why this matters to you. Look for Nasco di Cagliari DOC on the label: it is a separate appellation, not “Cagliari DOC”, whose types are Malvasia, Monica, Moscato and Vermentino, with no Nasco. All wines except the fortified ones must show the vintage; the word Riserva is allowed only for fortified wines aged at least two years, one of them in oak or chestnut barrels.