Published by Jeremy.
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It's not every day we get a Corsican wine, and its not every day when that wine has 90% Nielluccio (a grape we're used to having in smaller percentages as a blending grape).
But we got both of those with Yves Leccia's E Croce Patrimonio- a flavorful red wine that reminded us a lot like a nice Syrah!
E Croce is an Easy Drinking Corsican Red
This Nielluccio was medium ruby in color with medium(+) aromas of black cherry, red cherry, cranberry, clove, cedar, vanilla, caramel, cacao, blueberry, and leather.
On the palate, it was dry with medium(+) acidity, body, chalky coarse tannin, and flavor intensity with medium alcohol (although we could entertain high) and a long finish. We had flavors of red cherry, black cherry, black raspberry, clove, cedar, violet, dried leaves, and chalk.
The flavors in this one were quite nice; however, the alcohol did hit us a bit hot, and we suspect that this one could've perhaps been a bit higher than the label suggested. All around, pretty good though!
Corsican Red Wine Food Pairing – Pasta With Smoked Scallops
We paired this Nielluccio with a tomato and cream sauce on busiate pasta with smoked scallops. We weren't particularly focused with this pairing when selecting the wine, we admit, but we were hoping for some decent red fruits to pair nicely with the acidic tomato sauce.
Although this wine trended a bit more to darker fruits, red fruits were still present and came out particularly nicely with the pasta sauce. We also had notes of leather and dried leaves come out in greater intensity to help make this one a rather nice pairing all around.
Score: 3 / 5
We'd buy a glass of this one.
All told, this Nielluccio was quite a nice bottle of wine that reminded us a bit of a Syrah in nature. Although the alcohol felt slightly out of balance, it was quite a decent bottle, and we'd gladly get a glass in the future.
Domaine Leccia is located at Morta Piana, Poggio-d'Oletta in Corsica.
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