Unu white 2025 | Domaine de Vaccelli
The Unu white 2025 from Domaine de Vaccelli offers a glimpse into the world of a family-run wine estate rooted in the heart of Corsica. Located in Cognocoli-Monticchi, in the Taravo Valley, the estate has been owned by the Courrèges family since the 1960s. Today, Gérard Courrèges is at the helm. The Unu is the wine estate’s entry-level cuvée, but don’t let the term “entry-level” fool you.
Terroirs and Grape Varieties
The vines grow on granitic sandy soils—those decomposed, well-drained, and nutrient-poor soils that are the hallmark of the Taravo hillsides. The granite imposes a natural discipline on the vines. They draw water from deep underground, limit their yields, and concentrate their energy. The result is evident in the glass: an underlying minerality and a tension that persists throughout the tasting. The grape variety is Vermentinu, in its authentic Corsican form, vinified here as a 100% blend. A sun-loving variety by nature, it finds in these granite soils an acidic counterbalance that prevents it from becoming overly rounded.
Viticulture and Winemaking
The wine estate has been certified organic by Ecocert since 2019. The grapes are harvested by hand. Fermentation is carried out using indigenous yeasts—those native to the wine estate—without any external aromatic adjustments. Ageing takes place in 500-liter vats and demi-muids, a choice that adds volume and texture without imposing an overpowering oak character on the wine. This winemaking approach is designed to reveal the terroir, not to mask it.
Unu white 2025 | Domaine de Vaccelli: The Sommelier’s Review
Philippe Mischler, sommelier at Mundovin
Unu is the kind of wine you might underestimate based on the label, but once you have a glass in hand, you won’t want to put it down. In the Île de Beauté appellation, Vermentinu is often vinified in a simplistic way: rich, aromatic, and a bit short on complexity. Here, the combination of granite and native yeasts changes the game. The wine has backbone. Its peak drinking window runs from 2028 to 2031, giving it time to tighten up and then fully open up. At the table, serve it at 10°C, no lower: serving it too cold would erase precisely what sets it apart.
The Nose
The nose opens with a basket of bright summer fruits: white peach, fresh apricot, and a hint of citrus in the background. White flowers appear discreetly, without exuberance. A light note of warm stone hints at the granite in the background.
Palate
On the palate, the attack is full-bodied, almost generous. The body is full, offering the very best that Vermentinu has to offer: a sensation of fullness without heaviness. The acidity balances the whole, lending it structure. The finish lingers with a subtle, mineral salinity that invites a second sip.
The Île de Beauté appellation: everything you need to know
Île de Beauté is a PGI covering the entire territory of Corsica. It is home to a wide variety of grape varieties—both indigenous and continental—which are vinified into white, red, and rosé wines. White wines are often based on Vermentinu, the island’s iconic grape variety, capable of beautiful aromatic complexity when the terroir and winemaking techniques allow it. The IGP offers winemakers a freedom of style that Corsican AOPs do not always permit.
Within this framework, the Domaine de Vaccelli’s Unu white stands out for its precision. Where the IGP might tend toward easy aromatics, Gérard Courrèges opts for tension. The granite of Taravu, native yeasts, ageing in vats: each choice contributes to a wine of terroir, not a varietal wine.
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