Niellucciu

One variety, two names, two islands

Niellucciu and sangiovese are not two related varieties: according to the two official catalogues that carry authority on the matter, they are one and the same variety. Pl@ntGrape, the French catalogue of cultivated vines, leaves no doubt: "This variety, traditionally grown in Corsica, comes from Italy (Tuscany), where it is grown under the name Sangiovese." VIVC, the international reference catalogue, confirms independently by grouping niellucciu, nielluccio and sangiovese under a single passport entry, alongside brunello and prugnolo gentile — the names the same variety carries at Montalcino and Montepulciano. The Corsican name itself is telling: it is said to mean "dark, black" in the island's language.

From Tuscany to Corsica: an old graft, a reinvented identity

Niellucciu's Tuscan origin takes nothing away from its status as a fully Corsican variety: arriving on the island at an uncertain but ancient date, it found a terroir — the limestone and schist of the Nebbiu, around the Gulf of Saint-Florent — that suits it so well that it became, alongside Ajaccio's sciaccarello, one of the two varieties that best define Corsica's winegrowing identity. The Patrimonio appellation's cahier des charges, where the variety holds an almost exclusive place, even reaches for a Latin metaphor to describe this alchemy: "sanguis jovis", the blood of Jove, which the terroir's limestone is said to render "rich and deeply coloured" — a direct nod to the scholarly etymology often proposed for the very name "sangiovese".

Patrimonio's most demanding and most generous variety

At Patrimonio, the first Corsican appellation to be recognised, in 1968, the cahier des charges requires a niellucciu share of at least 90% for red wines — a requirement that effectively makes it the appellation's near-sole variety. The resulting wines are described as sumptuous, powerful and long on the palate, often above 13% natural alcohol; their red- and black-fruit aromas evolve, after a few years' ageing, toward spiced, toasted and balsamic registers. Niellucciu also lends itself, with a surprising ease for so structured a variety, to dry, well-balanced rosés.

One variety, not a variant — this corpus's editorial choice

This editorial choice is worth spelling out: rather than publish two separate entries under the names "niellucciu" and "sangiovese", this corpus keeps only one, under the Corsican name, consistent with the appellations it documents. The logic mirrors the one already governing this corpus's treatment of vermentino and its Corsican form "vermentinu": one variety under two names deserves one entry, not two that would silently duplicate each other.