Domaine Abbatucci, Ministre Imperial, 2014

If it wasn’t for Antoine Abbatucci, most of the grapes now grown by Jean-Charles, Antoine’s son, may not exist. In the 1960s, local Corsican grapes were being rapidly replaced by international competitors. Antoine was charged with preserving these varieties and, using a hectare of land, created an ampelographic station and saved the fate of 18 of them. When Jean-Charles took over in 2000 he converted the estate to biodynamic. He then began to graft some of these old varieties onto their existing vines. Today, 14 of those varieties can be found at Domaine Abbatucci, situated in the Taravo Valley of Ajaccio, the capital of Corsica. The estate produces around 1,500 bottles of each type of wine so get them whilst you can. There are now 18 hectares of vines, punctuated by shrubs and olive trees which are planted on granite slopes 100 metres above sea level. They thrive in an ecosystem in which a wide variety of flora and fauna grow beside the vines, adding to the ecological diversity - an important part of biodynamics. In the winter, sheep and tiger cows graze the land. The cows are bred by Jean-Charles’s brother, Jacque, and eaten at the restaurant run by their other brother, Henri.