From young Niellucciu vines, Arena’s 2007 Patrimonio Morta Maio smells of red raspberry, leather, and anise. Firm but juicy with far from unattractive undertones of damp bark and humus, tallow, and crushed stone, it finishes with admittedly lip-curling tannin but at the same time a penetrating, invigorating tang of rhubarb and red berry. This should remain strikingly delicious for at least several years. Arguably Corsica’s most renowned vinous ambassador – certainly the island’s grower who has made the greatest waves in fashionable French wine circles (not least among self-proclaimed “naturalists”) and internationally – Antoine Arena was inspired in the mid-1970s by Corsica’s independence movement to quit a law career on the French mainland and become a wine grower like his ancestors on the ruggedly chalky slopes of Patrimonio, a career now shared with his two sons. Their wines are as distinctively delicious and intriguing as any in France. Unfortunately, I have not had a chance to taste either this estate’s white or red Patrimonio from old vines named for the “Grotte di Sole” parcel, nor its white from Bianco Gentile, a native variety long thought extinct; rediscovered by researchers; and which Arena has since championed.Importer: Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant, Berkeley, CA; tel. (510) 524- 1524