Wojciech Bońkowski
Master of Wine

Domaine de Torraccia

A desert island red

Went to a new wine shop & bistro today: Vinarius. The import company itself is actually one of Poland’s veterans, having been founded by Frenchwoman Cécile Bergasse in the late 1990s. Following Cécile’s family connections the original catalogue focused strongly on the Languedoc, and wines such as Château Viranel Rosé (and the Blanc, for which I have a soft spot) and Clos Fantine were big time hits on our market.

Times have changed; growing market competition and family life have pushed Cécile to sell the company to an investor last year. This has surely proved beneficial to the portfolio, which is now overseen by Sławomir Chrzczonowicz, a very competent buyer of French wines (and a good friend). He has added blue chips such as Château Pibarnon and Mas de Daumas Gassac, and has unearthed lesser-known quality estates such as Château Mourgues du Grès from Nîmes, Château de Brau from Cabardès or Domaine Grossot from Chablis. Now he is looking beyond France, including the overperforming La Purísima co-op from Spanish Yecla whose inexpensive bottlings I like a lot.

Today I bumped onto an informal tasting of Corsican wines tutored by Sławomir at the new bar, and there one of my all-time favourites: Domaine de Torraccia. My personal preference for the wines of Corsica largely sprang from a single bottle of 1991 Oriu, Torraccia’s top bottling, that I tasted at the already mentioned Rouge Gorge wine bar in Paris 4e.

The owner of Torraccia Christian Imbert surely belongs to vinous France’s most colourful characters. He spent many years in Chad, and only moved to his wife’s native Corsica in his 40s. The 40 hectares of vineyards are located at Porto-Vecchio, at Corsica’s southernmost tip, overlooking Sardinia. This is not usually considered the best zone for Corsican wine: the island’s major protagonists usually operate in Patrimonio to the north or Ajaccio to the west. Whatever his terroir’s credentials, Imbert has been consistently producing some very exciting wines for two decades now.

I am not terribly fond of his Vermentino-based white (reductive and somewhat fruitless) but the Porto-Vecchio Rosé 2007 as tasted today is excellent: classic, restrained but with good structure and elegant hints of red fruits, it makes a perfect food wine. The focus is, however, on three red wines, none of which see any oak (which Imbert considers an adulteration of the traditional Corsican character). The varietal Niellucciu is light, fresh and gluggable while the 2006 Domaine red, in which Niellucciu is spiced up with some Syrah, Grenache and Sciaccarellu, is a distinctively perfumed, medium-bodied wine with surprising ageing potential (the 1998 was drinking beautifully last year).

If I were to choose one Corsican wine to take on a desert island, though, it would surely be the Porto-Vecchio Cuvée Oriu. Made from oldish terraced Niellucciu with 20% Sciaccarellu, it packs considerably more power and concentration than the Domaine red, and is perhaps the most ageworthy wine from Corsica: the 1998 is mature only now, and the 2001 – a brilliant vintage here – needs more time. Today, we tasted the 2004, which is really young and needs a good half hour of airing: the initial bouquet is taut, herby (call it garrigue if you will), sausagey, even gamey, and the cherry fruit unfolds slowly over a core of earthy minerality. The profile is very traditional: Oriu is a wine that starts quite evolved (there is no oak stabilisation, remember) but has an amazing staying power and shows a wonderful combination of depth and elegance. And make no mistake, this is no Sciaccarellu cerasuolo type as in the Clos Capitoro 2000 I reviewed back in January: this is a sturdy, peppery lad that can tackle a game dish. Truly a wine to take on a desert island.

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Clos Capitoro 2000

A remarkable red from Corsica


I got a bottle of this Corsican red (essentially as a gift after a copious dinner there) from François Briclot, the patron of the Rouge-Gorge in Paris’ rue Saint-Paul (he has since quit this lovely wine bar, which is a real shame).

Corsica has been steadily gaining ground in recent years with its white wines based on Vermentino, but I have a soft spot for the reds. Granite and limestone together with high altitudes and a windy (if warm) can deliver wines with wonderful finesse. And then there are the two native Corsican varieties. Niellucciu (believed to be a sibling of Sangiovese, but as always such kinship has more to do with DNA than any similarities in character) is the more common of the two, giving wines of compelling texture and ageworthiness. It is pretty easy to find – the best examples are probably those of Antoine Aréna and Yves Leccia, but my favourite by far is Domaine de Torraccia Cuvée Oriu. The 1991 (incidentally tasted at the very same Rouge-Gorge in 1997) was one of the first great terroir wines of my life, and I have loved every vintage since – especially the 1998, 2001 and 2004.
Corsica’s other indigenous grape variety, Sciaccarellu, is much harder to find in pure form. Apparently it is difficult to grow – and certainly to drink. The colour of its wines is very pale and unstable:
and the aromatic spectrum can be challenging (there is a Pinot-like stink that Corsicans like to compare to wild hare fur…). To those open-minded, though, Sciaccarellu can offer a fantastic Old-World finesse and a unique profile.

The last few remaining 100% Sciaccarellu wines are to be found in the Ajaccio AOC in the south-west of Corsica. I tasted some good bottles from Comte Peraldi and Clos d’Alzeto, but this Ajaccio Cuvée Réservée 2000 from Clos Capitoro was in a different league altogether (and note this producer makes a more expensive version of the grape, named Cuvée Jean Bianchetti). It boasts a fantastic faded ruby-orange colour that is even lighter than an orthodox Nebbiolo (see photo above). The bouquet is surely that of an aged wine, with aromas of almonds, herbs and olive oil, followed by a palate that is tertiary and meaty (Sciaccarellu always is anyway) with little fruit but good presence and length, and finishing with those powdery Corsican tannins that the producer so aptly describes as petits tanins au léger granuleux dus au sciaccarello. Alcohol is moderate (13%). The most surprising thing about this wine is its reserve: it started evolved and sedate but continued to gain life and zest over two days. The last sips were deliciously clean, stylish, traditional, refreshing and individual.

This wine is about as far as you can get from modern-vinified reds full of fruit, oak and extract. It is a glimpse of how red wines were made in the Mediterranean in the 18th or 19th century. A truly memorable bottle.

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