Corsica: it's not fair

A

Arno Tronche

Arnaud Tronche
Yup, not only they have Laetitia Casta, awesome cheeses and a beautiful island but they also have some great wines with unique winemakers.

Tried 4 Corsican wines I brought back from home. It's nice to see that none of those wines ever see any kind of wood: concrete or tanks. This shows on the purity of the fruit.

2008 Clos Culombu Vin de Corse Calvi
50% Niellucio, Sciacarello, Grenache and Syrah.
Nice pure fruit on the nose. Pepper and garrigue. Great energy on the palate witha nice lift on the finish. Very good structure.
Superb wine for summer.

2004 Domaine de Torraccia Vin de Corse Porto Vecchio Oriu
Niellucciu and Sciaccarellu. Fermentation is done with indigenous yeast and follows with a soaking from 15 to 21 days between 26 and 30C with a finishing on marcs. The blend is aged in concrete tanks for 18 months, then at least two years in bottles.
Brickish rim, masculine wine. Darker profile. Gamy nose.
Slightly stewed fruit but enough acidity. Needs food. Long meaty finish.
Overall a very good rustic wine which needs some air. Taste a little older than its 6 years.

2007 Antoine Arena Patrimonio Morta Mao
100% Niellucciu, young vines (replanted in 2001).
Well for such young vines, this is fantastic. Very sangiovese like. A lot of pure red fruits, dusty cherry. The Tannins needs to soften up a little bit but gives the wine its strcuture. Earthy with very good acidity.
Bravo !

2007 Domaine Yves Leccia (E Croce) Patrimonio
Niellucciu with a touch of grenache.
At this point, it needs more time than the Morta Maio. Lot of fruits, you can feel the potential is here but it will blossom in 4-6 years.
Overall, less acidity and a little darker profile than the Morta Maio.
Very good as well.

Well hopefully I did not screw up too much for my 1st post here...
Arno
 
Oswaldo,

I also tried one pinot from Corsica last year. Can't remember the producer but it was also pretty bad. Not sure if pinot is really a good idea over there.
 
Nice notes, and fuck off newbie.

The only Corsican wine I've had in the past few years is the Domaine de Gioielli white that Kermit Lynch imports. 100% Vermentino, and really good.
 
To me, vermentino is truly the greatest Corsican grape, and therefore the greatest Corsican wines are white.
 
originally posted by VS:
To me, vermentino is truly the greatest Corsican grape, and therefore the greatest Corsican wines are white.
Click to expand...

A aged 100% sciacarellu like Clos de Capitoro or a Niellucciu (sangiovese) from Martini are really unique wines IMHO.
A 1988 Capitoro tasted along with Musars, Brunellos and Sicilians was among the most complex and pretty wines of the evening, not long ago.
Rayas colour, chambolle structure and maquis aromas. A day of vacation by itself...
 
I don't dispute their greatness at all, ric. But I have an inkling that no one understood the potential of vermentino, and particularly Corsican vermentino, until quite recently. Now, an Oriu Blanc from Christian Imbert's Domaine de Torraccia, a Clos Blanc from Yves Canarelli's Clos Canarelli, or of course a Carco Blanc or a Grotte di Sole Blanc by Antoine Arena and sons are - to me - the epitome of great Mediterranean whites, with equal parts sun and freshness, plus some aging capacity...
 
Thanks for these notes. I've always wished there was more availability of more Corsican producers to explore. It seems like here in the US (and even in Paris) it's always the same handful of people. Maybe I haven't looked hard enough.

When you say "brought back from home" does that mean you are from Corsica or have a connection to the island?
 
Rahsaan, I'm from Provence (small town near Avignon) and moved to the US a few years back. And I agree, even in Paris, it is a little difficult to find a wide selection of Corsican wines.
Eric, your description of the Capitoro sounds like a dream. Thanks for the tip.

Victor, yes indeed Canarelli, Arena, Leccia and Co are making some very good whites but somehow I think the reds are more complex with maybe more finesse. But I definitely need to try more whites.

The one thing I really admire is that most of the winemakers never fell for the trend of making big, oaky, high alcohol wines. It's just a shame that they don't get a little more exposure because they really deserve it.
 
Arena's reds are actually pretty high alcohol, or at least the few I've seen around here and considered buying are. Seems like it doesn't bother folks, though.
 
Yves Leccia 2009 blanc from Vermentino is a real beauty.

Patrimonio vineyards with the gulf of St Florent in the background, 7/25/2010

corsica1.jpg
 
originally posted by Steven Spielmann:
Arena's reds are actually pretty high alcohol
Click to expand...
So are his whites. Vermentino is a variety that gets up there sugar-wise. Making low-alcohol wines in Patrimonio would entail using a lot of H2O or spinning cone... If you want to follow mother nature, you have to accept the climate.
 
originally posted by VS:
Vermentino is a variety that gets up there sugar-wise.
Click to expand...

Not in Provence, Victor. And not always in Corsica.

La Courtade from Richard Auther is the perfect example of Vermentino with alcohol under control.
And in Corsica Gioielli and the legendary Nicrosi often show alcohol in the 12%s.
IMHO Arena's choice is aesthetic and philosophic.

I was in Sienna last week and visited my friends Helena and Dante Lomazzi, who produce a nice macerated white from malvasia (which, I guess, is very closely related to Vermentino-rolle if not the same) at 11.5% of alcohol in 2009!

Again, I really believe that producing high alcohol whites out of vermentino or clairette or bourboulenc or ugni blanc in southern climates is mainly a question of personal choice from the winemaker.
 
We drank a bunch of Vermentino on a recent visit.
The grape reflects the differences in terroir and climate really well.

Clos Nicrosi and Gioielli from Cap Corse have lots of mineral and maquis flavors
(rosemarie, myrtle, etc) and are fairly lean in fruit and structure. I think they were in the 12% abv range. The wines also reflect the predominately schist soils they have up in the Cap.

Vermentino from Patrimonio wineries like Leccia and Arena had a nice balance of fruit, mineral and herbal flavors. Leccia's wine especially had noticeably more body and glycerol while still having plenty of sea breeze salty minerals. The soil there was a blend of granite, schist, and clay, IIRC.

Clos Culombu, a winery a little further south near Calvi had a Vermentino that was much richer, with melon and peach flavors, but still maintained some freshness and was about 13.5% abv.

I think the vineyards benefit from being so close to the sea, as it was 40+ degrees during the day, but the temperature cooled a lot at night.

Kermit Lynch made an analogy that the Cap Corse whites were like Chablis, where Patrimonio was Cote d'Or.
 
originally posted by Brzme:
malvasia (which, I guess, is very closely related to Vermentino-rolle if not the same)
Click to expand...
No relation DNA-wise, AFAIK, between malvasia di Toscana and vermentino.

Anyone can make low-alcohol wine from white grapes in a hot climate. Pick them around August 15, for instance. Not having to wait for vraison is such a great advantage... :-)
 
originally posted by Marc D:
We drank a bunch of Vermentino on a recent visit.
The grape reflects the differences in terroir and climate really well.

Clos Nicrosi and Gioielli from Cap Corse have lots of mineral and maquis flavors
(rosemarie, myrtle, etc) and are fairly lean in fruit and structure. I think they were in the 12% abv range. The wines also reflect the predominately schist soils they have up in the Cap.

Vermentino from Patrimonio wineries like Leccia and Arena had a nice balance of fruit, mineral and herbal flavors. Leccia's wine especially had noticeably more body and glycerol while still having plenty of sea breeze salty minerals. The soil there was a blend of granite, schist, and clay, IIRC.

Clos Culombu, a winery a little further south near Calvi had a Vermentino that was much richer, with melon and peach flavors, but still maintained some freshness and was about 13.5% abv.

I think the vineyards benefit from being so close to the sea, as it was 40+ degrees during the day, but the temperature cooled a lot at night.

Kermit Lynch made an analogy that the Cap Corse whites were like Chablis, where Patrimonio was Cote d'Or.
Click to expand...

Thanks Marc. Very interesting and your Patrimonio vineyards pic is stunning.
 
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