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Christian Estève, beautiful maturity
Corsican winegrowers have a sense of sharing
Before setting the table for a delicious festive meal, Settimana asked them to talk about the wine produced by their fellow winemakers and neighbours. In a collective profession such as this, it’s only natural.
Such a request may seem incongruous: to invite winemakers to talk about each other's wine while setting the festive table. But the culture of wine is tinged with passion and emotion, which lends itself to a sharing experience.
And they are happy to go along with this match. Harmonising the wine with food, perfectly pairing – always with admiration and pride for the work accomplished by their fellow winemakers.
Making wine takes time and involves many processes. The hazards of the weather, the maturation of the grapes, the vinification of the harvest, the aging, and finally the storing of the wine. The hard work undertaken by Corsican winemakers in recent years to bring Corsican wine on, is a giant leap forward for all wine lovers.
The selection of the wine in this way proves another certainty. When it comes to choosing wines to compliment your holiday meals, there is no need to look elsewhere. Whatever type of wine, whatever pairing required, Corsican winemakers, whether they work in private cellars or in cooperative groups, are able to deliver the perfect taste. And above all, they bring their own identity, and their own originality: sciaccarellu, niellucciu, vermentinu, biancu gentile, minustellu, carcaghjolu neru, the range of native grape varieties is so diverse that it offers compositions and vintages that are truly original.
Éric Poli, Christian Estève, Gilles Seroin, Pierre Acquaviva, Christian Orsucci, Jean-Baptiste de Peretti Della Rocca, Marie-Brigitte Poli, and Françoise Giudicelli have proved themselves as knowledgeable guides. They love their job and of course, wine. As an added bonus, they are interested in gastronomy.
Christian Estève, beautiful maturity
Christian Estève (Clos Canereccia) is one of those winemakers who has a very relaxed approach. Like the wines he makes in barrels, stone vats and sometimes even in amphoras, he is tranquil on the surface, buzzing on the inside. At Clos Canereccia, on the Aleria terroir, he makes wine with a mix of modernity and tradition. A sure value in the vineyard.
Christian Estève can be sparing with words. His wines speak for themselves. And when he speaks of the wines of others, his words are just as precise.
For the oysters, the winemaker goes for a white Patrimonio, a vermentinu, an unfiltered Domaine Giudicelli . "Freshness, tension, salinity from the limestone soils," he comments.
For the inevitable cabri en sauce, the winemaker from Aleria chooses the 174 Domaine Vacelli from Gérard Courrèges, it has the "volume” and "power" of a great sciacarellu.
Finally, for the chocolate cake, Christian Estève invites a natural sweet wine traditionally produced in Cap Corse. Not well known, the Rappu du Clos Nicrosi is "exceptional, aromatic, refreshing, full of complexity, in harmony with the chocolate". He also gives a special mention to the Rappu of Jean-Paul Gentile in Saint-Florent.
©Magali Cancel CIVCORSE
