Domaine de Marquiliani "Gris de Marquiliani" Vin de Corse Rosé, Corsica, France 2022

FROM KERMIT LYNCH:

THE WINE: 95% Sciaccarellu, 5% Syrah. You don’t need to pronounce it. All you need is a corkscrew and a wineglass. I discovered this marvel the final day of last summer’s visit to Corsica, right before flying to Marseille. I’d heard of a restaurant, La Flotta, up at the base of the imposing Monte Grosso. The paved road turned to dirt then narrowed to a car’s width. Tossin’ and a-turnin’, wondering where in the . . . and then, like finding an oasis in the desert, Gail and I reached a lone little restaurant under the looming granite peak. Cows grazed the parking lot. The sommelier was a treat. We discussed the great domaines: Arena, Leccia, Nicrosi, Abbatucci—then she insisted we try a new wine, a young woman’s first release, a rosé: “You’d better try it today because our staff has almost drunk it all up. We didn’t even put it on our wine list,” she said. She poured one of the most memorable wines I’ve tasted—no, not complex and grandiose. Not powerful and earthshaking. No, au contraire. Here’s a rosé that is almost weightless. Perfumed on the nose, then an ethereal touch as it spreads across the palate, then nothing remains but that gorgeous, heavenly perfume. Yum. To know it is to love it.

THE PRODUCER: The Amalric family has farmed Domaine de Marquiliani since the 1950s, nearly twenty years after the two hundred-year-old domaine was destroyed in a fire and abandoned. The Amalrics bought the property and replanted the vineyards. Daniel Amalric earned great recognition for his wines, as he was the first to plant Niellucciu and Syrah on this side of the island. In 1995, he was joined by his daughter, Anne, an agricultural chemist who had returned from mainland France to take her place at the family farm. Initially, Anne put her energy into planting olive and almond trees. Her determination has not been in vain, as Domaine de Marquiliani’s olive oils, made from local olive varieties, are widely regarded as the best in Corsica. Anne then turned her focus back to the vineyards, replanting much of the land to Sciaccarellu to focus the production on rosé. She still works side-by-side with her father and is quick to credit him as her guiding light in the vineyards and the cellar. In spite of her modesty, Anne has become a success in her own right. Her wine made an instant impression on Kermit, who raves, “Drinking her rosé is like drinking a cloud. There’s an absolute weightlessness to it. Nothing is left on the palate but perfume.”