Featherweight Corsican: Marquiliani Rosé

Marquiliani's rosé of Sciaccarellu from the east coast of Corsica is my personal favorite. I buy a wide range of rosés annually and even have favorite pairings for each, but the one that's captured my heart is Marquiliani's pale copper-hued, diamond-cut gems.

The native Sciaccarellu grape is grown here on decomposed granite terraces a couple of miles from the Mediterranean and just below the towering 8,000-foot Mount Renosu, ensuring cool breezes to balance out the island's hot summer temperatures.
 

The Vin de Corse is 95% Sciacacarellu and 5% Syrah and shows the more incisive and linear style of the domaine's rosé.

The smaller production Le Rosé de Pauline is 50% Syrah, 40% Sciaccarellu, and 10% Vermentino. Pauline is a touch broader on the palate but counterintuitively paler in color than the Vin de Corse. Even with Syrah's more prominent role here, this is still rosé at its most featherweight and saline-driven.

Along with her father, Daniel, Anne Almaric tends the minuscule two hectares of vines that her family took over in the 1950s. There was a 20-year span where this 200-year-old domaine had remained abandoned. Daniel was a pioneer, the first to plant Sciaccarellu on the island's eastern side. Anne's background in agricultural chemistry lent a keen eye toward viticulture, and the vines prospered under her watch. Some of the greatest rosés in the world come from domaines that produce red, white, and pink wines, but here every grape grown is only destined for rosé. 

Marquiliani speaks from a very extreme edge of the general rosé landscape. It's wickedly precise, with an undeniable laser-like focus through its finish. It's mouth-watering and mineral-infused, with a texture that is so fine that if you think too hard, it may just vanish completely. The fruit spectrum is very much in the citrus realm, with grapefruit, faint passionfruit, and jasmine notes always hallmarks. 

 

Importer Kermit Lynch's quote above may be his most recognized one, and it captures what we love most about these pinks. Corsicans don't let much of this leave the island, so when given the opportunity each year, I bring in as much as possible.