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Nicolas, a Corsican native, had left the island for Paris to study law but made a sudden and quite drastic U-turn, deciding to come home and become a winemaker, ultimately producing his first vintage in 2007. His winery is located in Oletta - in the heart of the Patrimonio appellation – in the northern reaches of Corsica. Today, he and his wife organically farm fifteen hectares of wines which are planted to a host of indigenous Corsican grape varieties.
Nicolas focuses on parcellaire work, denoting several specific parcels: Marsaglia, a one hectare each of Niellucciu and Vermentinu – wich are all massale selections planted in 2009 – and grown on clay and limestone soils. Porcellese was one of the first vineyards Nicolas acquired – a 3.5 hectares of gobelet-trained Niellucciu vines that were planted in 1966 on alluvial soils with round stones. Meanwhile, Lumiu is southern-facing parcel of Vermentinu planted in clay and limestone soils, and Carcu is a myriad of north-facing parcels planted in 1970, 1996 and 2009.
The focus on parcellaire work extends to picking, vinifcation and ageing. Everything is harvested by hand in small baskets and once in the cellar, fermentations occur naturally and sulfur is used in limited doses (of which is printed on the labels). He works with some whole bunch and carbonic maceration, as well as ageing in concrete tanks. All cuvées are bottled unfined and unfiltered.
Grape variety : 100% Niellucciu Age of Vines: 7 to 25 years Vineyard Surface Area: 6ha Terroir : Clay/limestone soils Orientation : North East Farming: Certified Organic Vinification: Hand-harvested, transported in 300 kg boxes. The destemmed grapes are placed in a concrete vat for a 15-day maceration. Natural vinification is carried out in concrete vats, using only SO2; the total dose is indicated on the label. Any form of extraction is prohibited to preserve the fruit aromas and finesse. Ageing: The wine is aged for 6 months in stainless steel vats and bottled without filtration or fining.
