Producer Domaine Giacometti

FRANCE, CORSE

The Giacometti family's adventure began in 1987, when Laurent and his son Christian acquired the Casta estate, within the Patrimonio appellation, the most famous, ancient and prestigious in all of Corsica. The terroir of this town in the municipality of Santo Pietro di Tenda, in the immediate northern hinterland of the island has a specificity: instead of resting on the clay-limestone subsoil that characterizes the eastern part of the AOC, it occupies granitic lands, particularly suitable for confer wine minerality. It is here, in an environment with a Mediterranean climate, where rains are rare but intense and libecciu blows almost all year round, which the Giacometti cultivate today almost 30 hectares of vineyard. The native vines are at the center of everything: Niellucciu, Sciaccarellu and Vermentino are protagonists, and at Grenache and Syrah only a supporting role remains. Today Christian and his wife Corinne steer the company, and their little ones, Sarah and Simon, are preparing to take up the baton, in an authentic family affair. Animated by the iron desire to express the terroir, the Giacometti cultivate the land in a strictly biological regime (Ecocert certification), without weeding or using other synthetic products; the vines are hoed and for the pest control only copper and sulfur are used. Short pruning has as its objective a strict containment of yields. This meticulous viticultural approach is carefully catered for in the cellar, where oenological additives are banned (with the exception of reasonable amounts of sulphites). Thus, after manual harvesting, crushing or pressing, the musts settle spontaneously, fermentations are entrusted to indigenous yeasts, the wines are neither forcibly nor filtered and the final addition of sulphites respects modest dosages. For an average annual production of around 90 thousand bottles.