One Corsican winery decides to innovate with orange wine and smoked grapes

ldquo;We make it our mission to release at least two innovative products a year under the Casanova brand”, says Christophe Paitier, managing director of the Aghione Samuletto co-operative winery which has 12 members farming 900 hectares of vines. For 2021, Corsica’s second-largest co-operative is marketing a sulphite-free rosé from the Nielluciu grape variety labelled ‘Les étonnants’, a wine from the native Carcaghjolu Neru variety and the Island of Beauty’s first orange wine.

“The idea for the orange wine came from a winemakers’ convention three years ago, where we tasted orange wines from Georgia" recalls Paitier. It took him two vintages of small-batch winemaking to find the suitable techniques. He ultimately fermented the white Vermentinu grape variety, which is “sensitive to oxidation” as a red wine. The wines were macerated and underwent rack-and-return and pumping over for two weeks to extract the polyphenols before pressing and malolactic fermentation.

Bottled with no added sulphites, the resultant 20.Orange label “is nothing like a white wine. You have to forget white wine as you know it”, claims Paitier. He describes candied fruit aromas and substantial structure on the palate which makes the wine a good partner for smoked meat and fish. The Aghione winery, which is already preparing for its next innovations, smoked grapes from the 2020 crop. After time spent in the smoking room, the grapes may herald the release of a new label next year. In the meantime, Christophe Paitier is working on a sulphite-free sparkling Muscat.