The Domaine Maestracci in northern Corsica's AOC Corse Calvi appellation. The vineyard sits on a sandy clay soil morraine that was left by a glacier in prehistoric times. It produces a variety of excellent wines, including one, Clos Reginu, that is available in a box.
While on vacation in Corsica this summer, I decided to visit the Domaine Maestracci in the northern part of the island in search of a box wine that I had read about on the blog of one of the leading US importers of wine from lesser-known French wine regions, Kermit Lynch. Lynch had questioned his blog readers about their interest in purchasing wine in a box from this vineyard, one of his three Corsican wine suppliers. Wine in a box has been around for more than 30 years. What is commonly called Bag-n-box wine is known in France as Fontaine à vin. It’s pretty certain that most every refrigerator in the south of France in the summertime has a box of rosé wine chilled and awaiting a casual lunch or aperitif.
The Domaine Maestracci, which is in the AOC Corse Calvi appellation, makes red and white wine from a variety of Mediterranean grape varieties, several of which, such as niellucciu and sciarccarellu, are indigenous to the island. Situated at 170 meters, or almost 560 feet, in altitude, the vineyard’s sandy clay soil was scraped off of the 1,900-meter-high nearby Monte Grossu by a glacier during the island’s prehistoric past. This ancient moraine now sits in a valley surrounded on all four sides by high granite mountains, creating a Mediterranean micro-climate that is characterized by hot, dry days and cool evenings. Thalwegs, or subterranean streams, flow on each side of the moraine, further contrasting the fertile lowlands with the dry, scrub-tree-covered mountain hillsides. This area has long been considered prime, grape-growing land. As evidenced by the large number of olive trees in the region, it is also excellent olive-growing territory.
The Domaine Maestracci’s origins date from the purchase in 1893, by the grandfather of the wife of the couple who currently own the property, of a portion of the present domain along with a huge olive oil mill that was constructed around 1850 by France’s largest olive oil company, Puget. This fortress-like structure, with its one-meter-thick walls, was abandoned when the company moved the majority of its operations to North Africa. The old mill now houses a modern wine cellar, an office, and a space to taste and purchase wine.
The Domaine Maestracci, which is now run by Michel Raoust (originally from the Rhône region of France) and his wife Dominique, has a variety of wines to fit different budgets and tastes. The Villa Maestracci red and Villa Maestracci white are the vineyard’s premium wines. The red is a blend of niellucciu, grenache and syrah that come from selected parcels. After a long maceration, the wine spends one year in stainless steel vats followed by one year in oak barrels. The white is a 100% vermentinu that undergoes an initial, cold maceration (macération pelliculaire à froid in French) to extract maximum flavor and body and to increase the aging potential before undergoing a first fermentation in oak barrels, followed by a second fermentation—still in oak barrels, over fine lees. The wine is then placed in stainless steel vats to preserve its fresh, fruity character.
Two other types of wine are made at the domain. A red, white and rosé entry-level wine, Clos Reginu, and a higher-priced red, white and rosé wine, E Prove. The main difference between the two reds is that the E Prove red has a longer maceration time for the nielluciu, sciaccarellu, syrah and grenache grapes used in it (the Clos Reginu red uses these same grape varieties), and the wine spends a year aging in stainless steel and an equal amount of time in oak barrels before it is sold. The Clos Reginu red spends just six months in stainless steel before it is bottled.
The Clos Reginu and E Prove rosé wines are made from two native Corsican red grape varieties, niellucciu and sciaccarellu. The more expensive E Prove rosé is made following a short maceration of the two grapes’ skins. The grapes are then pressed, and the skins are discarded. The Clos Reginu rosé is what the French call a rosé de saignées, which involves running off or “bleeding” (saignée in French) the vats. A controlled, low-temperature fermentation follows and the wine is then kept for six months in stainless steel vats.
The mineral-laden, E Prove white with its fresh floral notes and quite unique smoky flavor is a favorite of Kermit Lynch (he calls it his “house white”). The Clos Reginu white is made from the same vermentinu grape used in the E Prove white, but this wine is made by combining press wine (the result of a gentle second pressing after the free-run wine is extracted for the E Prove white) and a small proportion of ugni blanc grape. The Clos Reginu white is fresh and fruity, with an interesting straw-colored hue, but it doesn’t have the same complex mineral taste or smoky characteristics of the E Prove white.
The light-weight, low-carbon, economical Clos Reginu wine box. Good wine that's good for the environment.
Wine in the box is by far the most attractive economic option for purchasing wine. I bought a 5-liter box (almost 6.5 bottles) of Clos Reginu rosé (only the Clos Reginu wines are sold this way; the higher-priced E Prove and Villa Maestracci wines are only available in bottles) for €17 (around $24 at current currency exchange rates). At the €5-a-bottle cellar price for the Clos Reginu rosé, I would have paid €32.50 for the same amount of wine if I wanted it in glass bottles. I would have also had to haul back home those six heavy bottles and then dispose of them when I was finished with the wine. And my 5-liter box of rosé should remain fresh for up to four weeks, as the vaccum-sealed interior bag collapses in on itself, protecting the remaining wine from exposure to oxygen.
So whatever the name—Bag-n-box or Fontaine à vin, wine in a box is definitely an excellent packaging alternative for wine that is meant to be drunk young and fresh. And according to recent statistics from IRI Scan Data, which provides product sales information based on scan data, Americans are starting to catch up with Australia and other countries that long ago accepted the wine in a box idea. While wine sales as a whole are relatively flat, over the last year sales of premium box wines in the U.S. have increased nearly 30%. Having Kermit Lynch, one of the leading importers of French wine, providing a quality wine such as Clos Reginu in a box container will certainly help this trend to continue.
