Corsica

The Vin de Corse specification credits the Greeks with the beginnings of Corsican viticulture: about 600 BC the Phocaeans founded the trading post of Alalia on the east coast, bringing vines and olives. Under Roman rule wine was drunk by every class. After invasions up to the eleventh century, Pisa governed the island until 1285, and the Church revived the wine trade; Genoa followed. In the second half of the twentieth century about 17,000 people repatriated from North Africa planted large mechanised vineyards: planting began in 1960, accelerated from 1964 to 1969 and peaked in 1976, followed in the 1980s by unprecedented grubbing up. Requests for appellations began in 1942; Patrimonio became an AOC and Sartène a VDQS in 1968, and from 1971 growers sought a "Corse" appellation with named regions.

Corsica is a mountain massif. The specification describes old crystalline rocks over most of the west and south, as at Calvi, Figari, Porto-Vecchio and Sartène; Alpine schists in the north-east, as on Cap Corse; Quaternary sediments along the east coast; and limestone around Patrimonio. On these rocks four soil types occur: weathered granite, calcareous or more acid schists, clay-limestone and alluvium. Growers favour soils with good water reserves because summers are dry. About 95% of Vin de Corse comes from the east coast between Bastia and Solenzara. The climate is mild and coastal, with 14–17 °C isotherms, more than 2,500 hours of sun and 600–700 mm of rain, mostly in autumn. Sea and land breezes, mountain and valley winds, and regional winds (Tramontana, Maestrale, Libecciu, Sirocco and Grégale) give each area its identity. The wine council adds that mountain areas receive much more rain.

The specification describes reds of fairly deep colour, with fruit, liquorice and leather, silky and long; rosés, now about 60% of production, pale with intense fruit or flowers; and whites with mainly floral notes from Vermentinu. It attributes their identity to native grapes such as Sciaccarellu and Niellucciu and the long-established Vermentinu; to poor granite and schist soils for low yields, or deeper soils that carry the vines through summer drought; to terraces built by hand; and to winds that bring cool, humid air almost every day, slowing ripening.

Vin de Corse covers still red, rosé and white wine. Whites must contain at least 75% Vermentinu (Malvoisie de Corse), with Biancu Gentile, Codivarta, Genovèse and Ugni Blanc (Rossola) as accessories. Reds and rosés have Grenache, Niellucciu and Sciaccarellu as principal grapes, together at least 50%, with Niellucciu and Sciaccarellu at least a third, Carignan at most 20% and accessories including Aleatico, Barbarossa, Carcajolo, Cinsault, Morrastel (Minustello), Mourvèdre and Syrah. In 2008 Vin de Corse covered 2,760 ha and produced 110,000 hl, from 59 private cellars and six cooperatives. Patrimonio, Ajaccio and Muscat traditions belong to their own appellations, and IGP and wines without a geographical indication provide other frameworks.