La Boutanche Santamaria 2020

La Boutanche is a collaboration between importer Selection Massale and Thomas Santamaria of Domaine Santamaria in Patrimonio, Corsica. The wine is bottled as Vin de France and is built around roughly 95% fully destemmed Grenache with a small addition of Niellucciu for structure and lift. Fruit comes from old bush-trained vines sitting at around 250 meters elevation on decomposed schist with pockets of limestone and clay, facing the Tyrrhenian Sea on the Ile-Rousse hillsides.

Fermentation is carried out with native yeasts in stainless steel, followed by a brief tank elevage. The wine is bottled unfined and unfiltered with only a minimal addition of sulfur. At 14% ABV it is fuller than its glou-glou reputation might suggest, but the structure is all about acidity and freshness rather than weight or tannin.

In the glass it shows vivid ruby with violet highlights. The nose leads with wild strawberry, black raspberry, cracked pepper, and the herbal, garrigue-tinged character of Corsican maquis. The palate is light-to-medium bodied with crunchy red fruit, pomegranate, and a subtle seaside salinity on the finish. Tannins are present but barely there.

Thomas Santamaria is the sixth generation of his family to farm in Patrimonio. The estate holds 30 hectares across the communes of Oletta, Olmeta-di-Tuda, and Saint-Florent. Organic certification has been in place since 2014, and Thomas supplements that with biodynamic practices including lunar-cycle scheduling of vineyard work, though the estate is not formally biodynamic certified.