Domaine Abbatucci “Faustine”

To “keep his vines happy”, Jean-Charles Abbatucci is known to drive his tractor out to his vineyards and play traditional Corsican polyphonic songs over loudspeakers for “their benefit”. After the harvest he'll treat his cellar to the same music as his grapes ferment and come of age. In this vintage he also treated the Sciaccarellu cuvèe with sea water. Eccentric, maybe - but given how good the wine tastes, it’s clearly working. Faustine is made primarily from Sciaccarellu, a grape whose name in Corsican refers to the way the berries, when ripe, crunch under one’s teeth. You feel a similar sensation while sipping on the crushed, fermented result of those same berries: this vibrant, resinous rouge is reminiscent of succulent, freshly harvested red berries and pomegranate seeds. Its freshness and light hue belie its impressive structure and density, which largely come from Sciaccarellu’s counterpart in the blend, Niellucciu.