Domaine Vaccelli
Ajaccio AOP · Taravo valley · organic
Domaine Vaccelli lies in the valley of the Taravo, about ten minutes from Jean-Charles Abbatucci, and covers twenty hectares on a granite terroir. Yields are low, between 30 and 40 hl/ha.
Three generations of Courrèges
The Courrèges family comes from the Pyrénées-Atlantiques and settled in Corsica in the 1960s, arriving straight from Algeria. Grandfather Roger cleared the maquis and planted varieties from the south of France: Carignan and Grenache. His son Alain built the cellar by digging into the granite, while starting to work with Corsican varieties.
Today Gérard, the third generation, continues that interest in Vermentinu and Sciaccarellu. After studying oenology in Nîmes he completed his training at Clos Capitoro, a neighbouring estate near Ajaccio.
Organic, concrete eggs, no filtration
Under his lead the estate converted to organic farming and the wines gained in precision and finesse. In the cellar only indigenous yeasts are used, in stainless steel. For ageing: concrete eggs, barrels or 600-litre demi-muids, without bâtonnage. The wines are never filtered.
They are today among the most elegant and refined wines in Corsica. In red they show the character of Sciaccarellu to the full, with that spicy, digestible, complex Pinot Noir side that makes it one of the finest Mediterranean wines. The whites follow the Burgundian model: creamy and full, held nicely in balance by the bitters of Vermentinu.
The estate at a glance
| Appellation | Ajaccio AOP |
| Vineyard | 19.5 ha — 14.5 ha red, 5 ha white |
| Soil | granite |
| Yield | 30 to 40 hl/ha |
| Production | rarely more than 60,000 bottles a year |
| Harvest | By hand |
| Vine age | 30 years on average |
| Approach | organic, indigenous yeasts, unfiltered |
| Red varieties | Sciaccarellu 60%, Grenache noir 24%, Cinsault 9%, Minustellu 4%, Carcaghjolu Neru 3% |
| White varieties | Vermentinu 80%, Genovese, Cudivarta and Rimenese 20% |
