Corsica wine
Encyclopedia
Wine
Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...
made on the Mediterranean
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
island of Corsica
Corsica
Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia....
. Located 90km west of Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, 170km southeast of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and 11km north of the island of Sardinia
Sardinia
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...
, the island is a territorial collectivity of France, but many of the region's winemaking
Winemaking
Winemaking, or vinification, is the production of wine, starting with selection of the grapes or other produce and ending with bottling the finished wine. Although most wine is made from grapes, it may also be made from other fruit or non-toxic plant material...
traditions and its grape varieties are Italian
Italian wine
Italian wine is wine produced in Italy, a country which is home to some of the oldest wine-producing regions in the world. Italy is the world's largest wine producer, responsible for approximately one-fifth of world wine production in 2005. Italian wine is exported largely around the world and has...
in origin. The region's viticultural
Viticulture
Viticulture is the science, production and study of grapes which deals with the series of events that occur in the vineyard. When the grapes are used for winemaking, it is also known as viniculture...
history can be traced to the island's settlement by Phoceans traders in 570 BC in what is now the commune
Communes of France
The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or villages in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany...
of Aléria
Aléria
Aléria is a commune in the Haute-Corse department of France on the island of Corsica...
. In the 18th century, the island came under the control of France. Following the independence of Algeria from French rule, many Algerian Pieds-Noirs immigrated to Corsica and began planting vineyards. Between 1960 and 1976 the vineyard area in Corsica increased fourfold. In 1968, Patrimonio was established as Corsica's first Appellation d'origine contrôlée
Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée
Appellation d’origine contrôlée , which translates as "controlled designation of origin", is the French certification granted to certain French geographical indications for wines, cheeses, butters, and other agricultural products, all under the auspices of the government bureau Institut National...
(AOC). Today, Corsica has nine AOC regions including the island-wide designation Vin de Corse AOC. The majority of the wine exported from Corsica falls under the Vin de pays
Vin de pays
Vin de pays is a French term meaning "country wine". Vins de pays are a step in the French wine classification which is above the table wine classification, but below the VDQS and Appellation d'origine contrôlée classifications...
designation Vin de Pays de l'Île de Beauté (Country wine from the Island of Beauty). The three leading grape varieties of the region are Nielluccio, known as the spice wine of France, Sciacarello
Sciacarello
Sciacarello is a red wine grape that is grown primarily in Corsica. It is most noted for the wines that come from Ajaccio which tends to be highly perfumed. The grape is normally blended and rarely made into a varietal wine....
and Vermentino
Vermentino
Vermentino is a late-ripening white grape variety, primarily found in Italian wine. It is widely planted in Sardinia, in Liguria primarily under the name Pigato, to some extent in Corsica, in Piedmont under the name Favorita, and in increasing amounts in Languedoc-Roussillon. The leaves are dark...
.
History
The island of Corsica was settled by Phoceans traders shortly after their founding of Marseille on the southeastern coast of France. The Phoceans were active wine growers, cultivating indigenousIndigenous (ecology)
In biogeography, a species is defined as native to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention. Every natural organism has its own natural range of distribution in which it is regarded as native...
vines and cuttings brought from abroad. During the late 7th and early 8th century AD, the island came under Islamic rule
Muslim conquests
Muslim conquests also referred to as the Islamic conquests or Arab conquests, began with the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He established a new unified polity in the Arabian Peninsula which under the subsequent Rashidun and Umayyad Caliphates saw a century of rapid expansion of Muslim power.They...
. Wine production was severely limited due to the Islamic prohibition
Islamic dietary laws
Islamic dietary laws provide direction on what is to be considered clean and unclean regarding diet and related issues.-Overview:Islamic jurisprudence specifies which foods are ' and which are '...
of alcohol
Alcohol
In chemistry, an alcohol is an organic compound in which the hydroxy functional group is bound to a carbon atom. In particular, this carbon center should be saturated, having single bonds to three other atoms....
. In the early Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
, Corsica first came under the rule of the city of Pisa
Republic of Pisa
The Republic of Pisa was a de facto independent state centered on the Tuscan city of Pisa during the late tenth and eleventh centuries. It rose to become an economic powerhouse, a commercial center whose merchants dominated Mediterranean and Italian trade for a century before being surpassed and...
in the Tuscany
Tuscany
Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....
region, then in the 13th century under that of the Republic of Genoa
Republic of Genoa
The Most Serene Republic of Genoa |Ligurian]]: Repúbrica de Zêna) was an independent state from 1005 to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italian coast, as well as Corsica from 1347 to 1768, and numerous other territories throughout the Mediterranean....
. During this time some ampelographers believe that a clone of the Sangiovese
Sangiovese
Sangiovese is a red Italian wine grape variety whose name derives from the Latin sanguis Jovis, "the blood of Jove"...
grape was introduced to the island which became Nielluccio.
Greek wine
Greece is one of the oldest wine-producing regions in the world. The earliest evidence of Greek wine has been dated to 6,500 years ago where wine was produced on a household or communal basis. In ancient times, as trade in wine became extensive, it was transported from end to end of the...
" from the Cap Corse
Cap Corse
Cap Corse, a geographical area of Corsica , is a 25-mile long peninsula located at the northern tip of the island. At the base of it is the second largest city in Corsica, Bastia...
region. In 1769, a year after the Genoese ceded control of the island to the French, the English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
writer James Boswell
James Boswell
James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck was a lawyer, diarist, and author born in Edinburgh, Scotland; he is best known for the biography he wrote of one of his contemporaries, the English literary figure Samuel Johnson....
praised the diversity and quality of Corsican wines, comparing them favorably to the wines of Malaga
Malaga (wine)
Malaga is a sweet fortified wine originating in the Spanish city of Málaga made from Pedro Ximénez and Moscatel grapes. The center of Malaga production is Sierra de Almijara, along with Antequera, Archidona, San Pedro Alcantara, Velez Malaga and Competa. The winemaking history in Malaga and the...
and Frontignan
Frontignan
Frontignan la Peyrade is a commune in the Hérault department in southern France.Frontignan is renowned for its AOC wine, the Muscat de Frontignan, a sweet wine made solely from the Muscat grape variety.-Sights:...
. That same year, the future French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon I of France
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
was born in the Corsican city of Ajaccio
Ajaccio
Ajaccio , is a commune on the island of Corsica in France. It is the capital and largest city of the region of Corsica and the prefecture of the department of Corse-du-Sud....
to a wine-producing family. Under Napoleon's rule
Napoleonic code
The Napoleonic Code — or Code Napoléon — is the French civil code, established under Napoléon I in 1804. The code forbade privileges based on birth, allowed freedom of religion, and specified that government jobs go to the most qualified...
. Corsica was allowed to export wine and tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
duty
Duty (economics)
In economics, a duty is a kind of tax, often associated with customs, a payment due to the revenue of a state, levied by force of law. It is a tax on certain items purchased abroad...
-free across the French Empire
First French Empire
The First French Empire , also known as the Greater French Empire or Napoleonic Empire, was the empire of Napoleon I of France...
.
In the 19th century, the Corsican government launched several efforts to improve the nation's economy by promoting Corsica's wine industry. These efforts included the widespread planting of the indigenous Sciacarello grape and the construction of a large cellar near the city of Vizzavona, which was located on the highest point on the railroad line that linked the east coast city of Bastia
Bastia
Bastia is a commune in the Haute-Corse department of France located in the northeast of the island of Corsica at the base of Cap Corse. It is also the second-largest city in Corsica after Ajaccio and the capital of the department....
with the capital city of Ajaccio. The phylloxera epidemic
Great French Wine Blight
The Great French Wine Blight was a severe blight of the mid-19th century that destroyed many of the vineyards in France and laid to waste the wine industry...
of the late 19th century dealt a crippling blow to the Corsican wine industry, and was followed by a period of mass depopulation as Corsicans emigrated to other countries. The Algerian war of Independence ushered in a new period of growth as French pieds-noirs immigrated to Corsica and began new plantings. During this time, the number of vineyards increased fourfold. The overall quality of Corsican wine was poor due to the emphasis on quantity over quality, with Corsica becoming a prominent contributor to Europe's wine lake
Wine lake
The wine lake refers to the continuing supply surplus of wine produced in the European Union. A major contributor to that glut is the Languedoc-Roussillon, which produces over one-third of the grapes grown in France. In 2007 it was reported that for the previous several vintages, European...
problem. In the 1980s, the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
began issuing subsidies
Subsidy
A subsidy is an assistance paid to a business or economic sector. Most subsidies are made by the government to producers or distributors in an industry to prevent the decline of that industry or an increase in the prices of its products or simply to encourage it to hire more labor A subsidy (also...
to encourage the uprooting of vines and to renew focus on limited yields and quality wine production. By 2003, these programs had contributed to a reduction of over 17300 acres (7,001.1 ha) in the number of vineyard plantings in Corsica, as well as the introduction of modern winemaking techniques and equipment such as temperature-controlled fermentation
Fermentation (wine)
The process of fermentation in wine turns grape juice into an alcoholic beverage. During fermentation, yeast interact with sugars in the juice to create ethanol, commonly known as ethyl alcohol, and carbon dioxide...
tanks.
Climate and geography
Mean
In statistics, mean has two related meanings:* the arithmetic mean .* the expected value of a random variable, which is also called the population mean....
average temperature is 74 °F (23.3 °C. The average annual rainfall for most Corsica's wine growing regions is 29 inches (730 mm) and 2.6 inches (65 mm) during the harvest
Harvest (wine)
The harvesting of wine grapes is one of the most crucial steps in the process of winemaking. The time of harvest is determined primarily by the ripeness of the grape as measured by sugar, acid and tannin levels with winemakers basing their decision to pick based on the style of wine they wish to...
month of September. Very little rain falls during months of August and September allowing for a dry, rot-free harvest for most vintage
Vintage
Vintage, in wine-making, is the process of picking grapes and creating the finished product . A vintage wine is one made from grapes that were all, or primarily, grown and harvested in a single specified year. In certain wines, it can denote quality, as in Port wine, where Port houses make and...
s. Corsica averages around 2,750 hours of sunshine a year, with the nearby sea absorbing most of the heat during the day and radiating it back to the island at night. This creates a more consistent temperature and sharply reduces the diurnal temperature variation
Diurnal temperature variation
Diurnal temperature variation is a meteorological term that relates to the variation in temperature that occurs from the highs of the day to the cool of nights.-Temperature lag:Temperature lag is an important factor in diurnal temperature variation...
. Throughout the mountainous terrain there are several mesoclimates created by the differing degrees of altitude
Altitude
Altitude or height is defined based on the context in which it is used . As a general definition, altitude is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum and a point or object. The reference datum also often varies according to the context...
, latitude
Latitude
In geography, the latitude of a location on the Earth is the angular distance of that location south or north of the Equator. The latitude is an angle, and is usually measured in degrees . The equator has a latitude of 0°, the North pole has a latitude of 90° north , and the South pole has a...
and maritime influences.
There are several different soil type
Soil type
In terms of soil texture, soil type usually refers to the different sizes of mineral particles in a particular sample. Soil is made up in part of finely ground rock particles, grouped according to size as sand, silt and clay...
s found in the wine growing regions of Corsica. In the northern region consisting the of Cap Corse peninsula
Peninsula
A peninsula is a piece of land that is bordered by water on three sides but connected to mainland. In many Germanic and Celtic languages and also in Baltic, Slavic and Hungarian, peninsulas are called "half-islands"....
the soil is mainly schist
Schist
The schists constitute a group of medium-grade metamorphic rocks, chiefly notable for the preponderance of lamellar minerals such as micas, chlorite, talc, hornblende, graphite, and others. Quartz often occurs in drawn-out grains to such an extent that a particular form called quartz schist is...
. Just south of the Cap Corse is the limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
-rich chalk
Chalk
Chalk is a soft, white, porous sedimentary rock, a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite. Calcite is calcium carbonate or CaCO3. It forms under reasonably deep marine conditions from the gradual accumulation of minute calcite plates shed from micro-organisms called coccolithophores....
and clay
Clay
Clay is a general term including many combinations of one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter. Geologic clay deposits are mostly composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure.- Formation :Clay minerals...
soil of the Patrimonio
Patrimonio
Patrimonio is a commune in the Haute-Corse department of France on the island of Corsica.-Geography:Located 12 km from Bastia and 4 km from the micro-region of Saint-Florent, this wine-growing commune is the gateway to the Cap Corse .-History:The village of Patrimonio is well known for...
region. Along the west coast, the soil contains a high concentration of granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
. The vineyards planted on the east coast of the island between the cities of Solenzara and Bastia are planted mostly on marl
Marl
Marl or marlstone is a calcium carbonate or lime-rich mud or mudstone which contains variable amounts of clays and aragonite. Marl was originally an old term loosely applied to a variety of materials, most of which occur as loose, earthy deposits consisting chiefly of an intimate mixture of clay...
y sand
Sand
Sand is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely divided rock and mineral particles.The composition of sand is highly variable, depending on the local rock sources and conditions, but the most common constituent of sand in inland continental settings and non-tropical coastal...
.
Wine regions
Ajaccio AOC
Ajaccio is an Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée for wine situated in Corsica, France as a part of the Corsica wine region. Ajaccio was earlier known as Coteaux d'Ajaccio and covers a vast stretch of land that looks down over the Mediterranean Sea...
centered around the island's capital city of Ajaccio which includes some of Corsica's highest elevated vineyard land. The generic Vin de Corse AOC covers the entire island and includes the smaller sub-regions of Vin de Corse-Coteaux du Cap Corse, Vin de Corse-Calvi, Vin de Corse-Figari, Vin de Corse-Porto Vecchio and Vin de Corse-Sartène AOCs covers specific regions and generally mandates lower yield
Yield (wine)
In viticulture, the yield is a measure of the amount of grapes or wine that is produced per unit surface of vineyard, and is therefore a type of crop yield...
s than the Vin de Corse AOC. The Muscat du Cap Corse AOC includes the vin doux naturel wines produced in the northern peninsular tip of the island.
Patrimonio
The Patrimonio wine region is located on the northern coast of the island, west of the city of Bastia, on the chalk- and clay-based soils around the city of Patrimonio. The Nielluccio grape is the main variety and usually composes up to 95% of the regions AOC red and roséRosé
A rosé is a type of wine that has some of the color typical of a red wine, but only enough to turn it pink. The pink color can range from a pale orange to a vivid near-purple, depending on the grapes and wine making techniques.- Production techniques :There are three major ways to produce rosé...
wines. The white wines of the regions are often 100% Vermentino. In 2002, the region changed it AOC regulations on the encépagement (grape composition) of the wines to where at least 90% of the red wines and 75% of the rosés must be Nielluccio, with Grenache
Grenache
Grenache is one of the most widely planted red wine grape varieties in the world. It ripens late, so it needs hot, dry conditions such as those found in Spain, the south of France, and California's San Joaquin Valley. It is generally spicy, berry-flavored and soft on the palate with a relatively...
, Sciacarello and Vermentino permitted to round out the rest. According to wine expert Tom Stevenson
Tom Stevenson
Tom Stevenson is a British author who has been writing about wine for more than 30 years. Described by his colleagues as one of today’s most prolific wine authors, Stevenson is regarded as the world’s leading authority on Champagne...
, the wines from this region typically drink at their peak within 1–3 years after vintage.
Ajaccio
The Ajaccio wine region includes the vineyards surrounding the southwestern coastal town of Ajaccio. The region produces mostly medium-bodied red and rosé wine made primarily from Sciacarello. White wines from Ajaccio are often blends of Ugni blanc and Vermentino. Under AOC regulations, the red wines must contain at least 40% Sciacarello, which together with Barbarossa, Nielluccio and Vermentino must compose a minimum 60% of the total wine blend. The remaining maximum of 40% can come from a blend of Grenache, Cinsault and Carignan-though Carignan is relegated to comprising no more than 15% of the blend. Stevenson notes that these wines typically have the same longevity as the wines from Patrimonio.Vin de Corse
This region-wide designation and its sub-regions account for around 45% of all AOC wines produced in Corsica. Red and rosé wines here must include at least a 50% composition of Nielluccio, Sciacarello and Grenache. The white wines are composed primarily of Vermentino. This region includes many of Corsica's oldest established wineries that were founded in the 1960s on the island's eastern plains. The Vin de Corse-Coteaux du Cap Corse is located on the northern peninsular tip of the island and produces sweet winesSweetness of wine
The subjective sweetness of a wine is determined by the interaction of several factors, including the amount of sugar in the wine to be sure, but also the relative levels of alcohol, acids, and tannins. Briefly: sugars and alcohol enhance a wine's sweetness; acids and bitter tannins counteract it...
made from Muscat and Aleatico
Aleatico
Aleatico is a red wine grape. Ampelographers suspect that Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains may be a mutation of the Aleatico cultivar. Aleatico is notable for being the primary grape in the cult wine Aleatico di Portoferraio made in Elba. It is grown most commonly in the Puglia and Lazio region of...
. The wines made from the latter are commonly labeled as Rappu wine.
Mourvèdre
Mourvèdre , Mataró or Monastrell is wine grape variety used to make both strong, dark red wines and rosés. It is an international variety grown in many regions around the world....
, Syrah, and Vermentino
Vermentino
Vermentino is a late-ripening white grape variety, primarily found in Italian wine. It is widely planted in Sardinia, in Liguria primarily under the name Pigato, to some extent in Corsica, in Piedmont under the name Favorita, and in increasing amounts in Languedoc-Roussillon. The leaves are dark...
. Carignan and Vermentino are further relegated to comprising no more than 20% of the entire blend. The white wines must contain at least 75% Vermentino, with Ugni blanc permitted to be included in the blend. The sub-region of Vin de Corse-Porto Vecchio is located on the southeastern coast around the city of Porto Vecchio. The sub-region of Vin de Corse-Figari is situated around the southwestern town of Figari
Figari
Figari is a commune in the Corse-du-Sud department of France on the island of Corsica.-Geography:The village of Figari is to the southeast of Sartène, to the southwest of Porto-Vecchio and to the north of Bonifacio. The commune comes from an ancient parish. It includes the center of a large...
, located between Sartene
Sartène
Sartène , is a commune in the Corse-du-Sud department of France on the island of Corsica.Its history dates back to medieval times and granite buildings from the early 16th century still line some of the streets. One of the main incidents in the town's history was an attack by pirates from Algiers...
and Porto Vecchio. The sub-region of Vin de Corse-Sartene is located northwest of Figari and is centered around the town of Sartene.
Muscat du Cap Corse
The Muscat du Cap Corse region includes primarily the northern peninsular tip and overlaps with the Vin de Corse Coteaux du Cap Corse AOC as well as five communes that produces wines in the Patrimonio AOC. The sweet dessert wineDessert wine
Dessert wines are sweet wines typically served with dessert.There is no simple definition of a dessert wine. In the UK, a dessert wine is considered to be any sweet wine drunk with a meal, as opposed to the white fortified wines drunk before the meal, and the red fortified wines drunk after it...
from the Cap Corse region is produced in the vin doux naturel style and is composed entirely of Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains
Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains
Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains is a white wine grape that is a member of the Muscat family of Vitis vinifera. Its name comes from its characteristic small berry size and tight clusters...
.
Viticulture and winemaking
The average elevation of vineyards in Corsica is 300 metres (984.3 ft) above sea levels where they are susceptible to strong winds. Vines were traditionally prunedPruning
Pruning is a horticultural practice involving the selective removal of parts of a plant, such as branches, buds, or roots. Reasons to prune plants include deadwood removal, shaping , improving or maintaining health, reducing risk from falling branches, preparing nursery specimens for...
to a goblet style, but modern viticultural
Viticulture
Viticulture is the science, production and study of grapes which deals with the series of events that occur in the vineyard. When the grapes are used for winemaking, it is also known as viniculture...
practice and mechanical harvesting have encouraged more widespread use of single guyot and cordon de royat training styles. Vines are typically planted to a density average of 1,000 vines per acre
Acre
The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...
(2,500 vines per hectare
Hectare
The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...
). The use of irrigation is prohibited in all AOC regions. Vineyards in Corsica are prone to occasional cicadelle attacks, which makes the vines susceptible to the phytoplasmic
Phytoplasma
Phytoplasma are specialised bacteria that are obligate parasites of plant phloem tissue and transmitting insects . They were first discovered by scientists in 1967 and were named mycoplasma-like organisms or MLOs. They cannot be cultured in vitro in cell-free media...
grape disease Flavescence dorée
Flavescence dorée
Flavescence dorée is a bacterial disease of the vine with the potential to threaten vineyards. The bacterial agent has recently been named Candidatus Phytoplasma vitis, and its vector is the leafhopper, Scaphoideus titanus. Infection may kill young vines and greatly reduce the productivity of old...
. Additional viticultural hazards include downy mildew
Downy mildew
Downy mildew refers to any of several types of oomycete microbes that are obligate parasites of plants. Downy mildews exclusively belong to Peronosporaceae. In commercial agriculture, they are a particular problem for growers of crucifers, grapes and vegetables that grow on vines...
and powdery mildew
Powdery mildew
Powdery mildew is a fungal disease that affects a wide range of plants. Powdery mildew diseases are caused by many different species of fungi in the order Erysiphales. It is one of the easier diseases to spot, as its symptoms are quite distinctive. Infected plants display white powdery spots on the...
.
The European Union grant programs have encouraged many Corsican wineries to upgrade their facilities with temperature controlled stainless steel fermentation
Fermentation (wine)
The process of fermentation in wine turns grape juice into an alcoholic beverage. During fermentation, yeast interact with sugars in the juice to create ethanol, commonly known as ethyl alcohol, and carbon dioxide...
tanks. This allows the white and rosé wines from this warmer climate wine region to be fermented cool at between 64-68°F (18-20°C). Reds are often fermented in excess of 86°F (30°C) though some winemakers have experimented with cooler fermentation. Rosés are produced using the saignée method with malolactic fermentation
Malolactic fermentation
Malolactic fermentation is a process in winemaking where tart-tasting malic acid, naturally present in grape must, is converted to softer-tasting lactic acid. Malolactic fermentation tends to create a rounder, fuller mouthfeel. It has been said that malic acid tastes of green apples...
being intentionally suppressed (as they usually are with Corsican whites as well). Red wines normally will go through malolactic fermentation and spend some time aging in oak barrels, though the use of new oak and extended oak aging has been a relatively recent development in Corsican winemaking. The white wines of Corsica are rarely exposed to oak, though some winemakers have experimented with making a Burgundian
Burgundy wine
Burgundy wine is wine made in the Burgundy region in eastern France, in the valleys and slopes west of the Saône River, a tributary of the Rhône. The most famous wines produced here - those commonly referred to as "Burgundies" - are red wines made from Pinot Noir grapes or white wines made from...
or Muscadet
Muscadet
Muscadet is a white French wine. It is made at the western end of the Loire Valley, near the city of Nantes in the Pays de la Loire region neighboring the Brittany Region. More Muscadet is produced than any other Loire wine. It is made from the Melon de Bourgogne grape, often referred to simply as...
style wine from Vermentino which includes barrel fermentation and significant amount of lees
Lees (fermentation)
Lees refers to deposits of dead yeast or residual yeast and other particles that precipitate, or are carried by the action of "fining", to the bottom of a vat of wine after fermentation and ageing. The yeast deposits in beer brewing are known as trub...
stirring.
External links
- Corsican wine from Terroir-France