i. Biography
The Path
Winemaking at Cantina Santadi has been a matter of continuity and control in Riccardo Curreli’s hands, with the cellar’s identity built through precision rather than display. His name is attached to wines that stay close to Sardegna’s native material while keeping a firm structural line, so the work reads as house style made legible in bottle.
The Work Today
The range runs through Cannonau, Vermentino, Monica, Carignano del Sulcis, and the broader Sardegna DOC framework, with Riccardo Curreli’s wines set out across those markers rather than chasing breadth for its own sake. Noras Cannonau di Sardegna DOC and Cala Silente Vermentino di Sardegna DOC show two different registers within the same estate language, while Shardana and Antigua Monica di Sardegna DOC extend that vocabulary without breaking it. What those wines share is a tight definition of place and a disciplined pace of release. Terre Brune and Rocca Rubia anchor the Carignano del Sulcis side of the range; Noras, Cala Silente, and Antigua hold the Sardegna DOC side; Shardana sits within the same estate set. For a winemaker, that kind of list signals selection over sprawl: each label carrying its own brief while still reading as part of the same cellar grammar.
Career - winemaker — Cantina Santadi
Signature
Riccardo's signature wines include Terre Brune, Rocca Rubia Carignano del Sulcis Riserva DOC, Noras Cannonau di Sardegna DOC, Cala Silente Vermentino di Sardegna DOC, and Shardana. Taken together, these wines sketch the contours of his sensibility at Cantina Santadi: Carignano del Sulcis in its more structured expression, Cannonau with its Sardinian rootedness, Vermentino in a cleaner and more luminous register, and Shardana as part of the broader signature that links them.
Acclaim
The clearest accolade is attached to Terre Brune itself. In a profile otherwise defined by the quiet authority of named bottlings and the consistency of place, that distinction is notable as the most direct measure of recognition, underscoring the wine’s importance within Curreli’s body of work and within the estate’s own reputation.
FAQ What is Riccardo Curreli's current role? As of 2026, Riccardo Curreli is Winemaker.
