Anthony Lynch (son of legendary importer Kermit Lynch) came to New York last week and brought a few special bottles from their Berkeley cellar to lunch, including 2007 Vacqueyras Le Sang des Cailloux and Thierry Allemand’s 2005 Cornas Reynard. But the surprise winner with the food was a Corsican red, the 2020 Antoine Arena Patrimonio Rouge, "Morta Maio.”
It was a great lunch! Hanging out with Anthony was a real pleasure. And the wines! The Sang des Cailloux was almost shockingly fresh with just the first hints of leather and truffles – if you were clever enough to put some in your cellar and leave it there, I’d say it’s entering an optimal drinking window but you don’t have to rush. The Allemand was, well, Allemand (a bundle of contradictions: dark and fresh, airy and powerful, crushable and profound).
But the lunch wine I’ll actually be drinking again soon was the“Morta Maio” (meaning “Oldest Myrtle” in Corsican). At a table of mature legends, it absolutely held its own: pure fruit, complexity from those wild Corsican herbs and the schist soils, completely open and expressive. It was delicate enough to pair with bluefish, and intense enough for the hanger steak.
And unlike those famous cellar selections, it’s a wine we can share with you – for now. Though Antoine has passed most of his vines on to his sons he still makes a very little bit of his own wine and (as this bottle proved) remains an absolute master.
It shouldn’t be a surprise. In France, he is revered as a living legend: a defender of Corsican identity and one of a handful of producers who saved Corsican wine. He brought the Patrimonio appellation to prominence and is talked about in the same breath as Lapierre and Foillard, a natural wine trailblazer.
But in New York, somehow, the wine is still available. So I’ve grabbed everything I could and am happy to be able to share it with special pricing. But even so, there isn’t much to go around; the Kermit store in Berkeley is even sold out. Click below to grab your bottles before it’s all gone. Discounts are good till end of day on Monday 11/24.
