The 2025 Vermentino des Agriates is Domaine Giacometti’s delightful, terroir-driven white wine—a limited-release cuvée that perfectly captures the essence of one of Corsica’s wildest and best-preserved vineyards.
The Agriates terroir and the Patrimonio AOP
Domaine Giacometti thrives in the Agriates, a coastal desert designated as a Natura 2000 site that stretches between Saint-Florent and Île-Rousse in northern Corsica. A wild and arid landscape, swept by sea winds, the Agriates constitute one of the island’s most unique terroirs—poor clay-limestone soils, exposed to the sun and cooled each night by sea breezes. These extreme conditions force the vines to send their roots deep into the ground in search of water and minerals, resulting in wines with natural concentration and remarkable minerality.
The Patrimonio appellation, granted AOC status in 1968 — one of the first in Corsica — is renowned for the exceptional quality of its white wines made from Vermentino, which finds one of its premier terroirs here on the entire island.
Vermentino, Corsica’s iconic white grape variety
Vermentino—known as Malvoisie in Corsica—is the island’s premier white grape variety. It produces expressive, aromatic wines with notes of white flowers, citrus, peach, and fresh almond, along with the salinity and minerality characteristic of Mediterranean coastal terroirs. On the clay-limestone soils of the Agriates and in the breezy climate of the northwest coast, it expresses a freshness and tension found nowhere else on the island.
Tasting Notes for the 2025
The color is pale yellow with luminous golden highlights. The nose is open and expressive right from the start: white flowers, lemon, grapefruit, a light hint of fresh almond, and a briny note of the seaside. The palate is lively and fresh, with lovely mineral tension in the mid-palate and a slightly salty, lingering finish. A white wine that is both rich and precise, embodying the Corsican identity without being heavy. Estimated peak in 2028; best enjoyed young to appreciate its freshness.
Food and Wine Pairings
Seafood (oysters, clams, langoustines), grilled fish à la plancha, scallop carpaccio, fresh brocciu cheese, white tapenade, an aperitif in the shade on the terrace.
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