Corsican wine from Porte Vecchio

This is a bottle of Corsican wine from Porte Vecchio, made from a blend of Niellucio and Sciacarello. Although both are local Corsican varieties, Niellucio is the same as Sangiovese, though when and how that came to Corsica is not well documented. Sciacarello is thought only to exist on Corsica, but the German VIVC database also lists Mammolo (in all its guises) as a synonym of Sciacarello, which means that Sciacarello (as Mammolo) is permitted in both Chianti and Vino Nobile (also see previous blog on the latter). Sciacarello is the main grape of Ajaccio (Napoleon's natal town and capital of Corsica), where it makes highly perfurmed wine. No one specified whether a scent of violets is dominant, because Mammolo is so named because of its scent of violets (mammole in Italian).

As for this limpid garnet wine, I detected a sweet fruity nose with citrus (but no violets) notes (but then I am not very sensitive to violets anyway). The palate was basically dry with hints of fruitiness and a touch of alcohol heat. Tannins were evident just before swallowing with a hint of orange and both orange a notes and tannins persist right through to the finish.