Vaccelli Blanc 'Chioso Novo' 2023

As a young man on Corsica, Gérard Courrèges dreamed of running a restaurant. Then one day, alongside roast lamb with figs and honey, he was served a glass of red wine: a Sciaccarellu. That was that. He gave up on restaurants and went into wine instead. Today, his exceptional Domaine de Vaccelli wines, made from native Corsican varieties including Sciaccarellu, are one of our most wanted allocations.

Gérard talks about his wines like a Burgundian, but with Sciaccarellu and Vermentinu replacing Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Sciaccarellu is a thin-skinned grape that combines a Pinot-like freshness with Mediterranean warmth — the Burgundian winemaker Anne-Claude Leflaive once called it "wild Pinot Noir." Generous and approachable when first bottled, the best also have the structure to age gracefully. Vermentinu is better known as the Italian Vermentino, but the wines it makes here are in a different league to most, combining sumptuous weight with extraordinary detail.

The Vaccelli estate includes some of the island's oldest vines of both varieties, planted on rugged, granitic hillsides. Farming is organic and the vineyards worked entirely by hand. Wild yeast fermentations are followed by ageing in a variety of vessels, including stainless steel, barriques, and concrete eggs. The result is uniquely Corsican, terroir-driven fine wine.With demand far exceeding the 7,000 cases made each year, these wines are rarely available to buy in the UK.