Thomas Santamaria - 'la Boutanche' - Grenache, Niellucciu - Corsica, FR - 2020 - 1000ml

It's a liter of SMASH! Get this island wine before it definitely runs out super fast!

AOC: Patrimonio
Varieties: Niellucciu, Grenache, Vermentinu
Viticulture: Organic, Certified
​Size: 30 hectares
​Terroir: Limestone, Schist
We were introduced to Thomas Santamaria by our friends at Clos Marfisi, Mathieu and Julie. Needless to say we fell fast and hard for his wines.

Thomas is the 6th generation to take over the estate, which, over the years, has acquired 30 hectares of vines across the Oletta, Olmeta-di-Tuda, and St.-Florent communes on the island of Corsica planted in schist and limestone soils. Much like their neighbors at Clos Marfisi, previous generations had farmed in the traditional ways, and never gave into outside pressure in regards to using herbicides and pesticides, which unfortunately became common in the 1970s. Thomas has begun to take that a step further. He maintains strict organic farming principles, and is looking at biodynamic treatments as well as following the lunar cycle for all vineyard work.
Vinifications are just as traditional, with native yeast fermentations in stainless steel. All wines are unfined and unfiltered with a small addition of sulfur at bottling. Thomas makes two different tiers of cuvées. The first is called Tranoi which are bottled as Vin de France and are pure, unadulterated, distinctly Mediterranean wines. The second are his Patrimonio AOC wines, which are among some of the best on the island.