Some figures on the Corsica wine economy
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Since 1983, the surfaces asserted in AOC increase regularly (with variations related to the intense reorganizations) to reach the 2000
hectares since 1993 and 2732 hectares in production currently. Broadly,the outputs are about 36 hl/ha, with important differences from AOC’s to AOC'S( AOC.Muscat du cap corse 29 hl/ha and AOC Corse 42 hl/ha.

The approved production of the Vintage 2003 is of : 355 953 hl
(all wines together).
of which:
94 651 hl in AOC, 203.581 hl of country wines and varietals country wines (83% in rouge/rosé)
And 57 731 hl of Table Wine

GLOBAL SURFACE IN PRODUCTION IN 2003 : 6.891 ha
SURFACE AOC IN PRODUCTION: 2.732 ha

The global transformation of the Corsican vineyard for 20 years has been led through a strong plan of the pulling up of more than 20 000 ha and a program of re-implantation of traditional native grape varieties with strong identities. This effort is today rewarded.

PRODUCERS
188 producers, including 6 co-operative cellars, 4 SICA, 2 traders and 90 private cellars

EMPLOYMENT
500 workmen, 1000 seasonal workers, 64 managers and chiefs of culture

YIELD2003
64 hl/ha for the Local wines
36, 3 hl/ha for the AOC

DISTRIBUTION of the PRODUCTION in AOC
On the almost 95 000 hl approved AOC volumes, about the half are red wine, less than one third rosé wine and the remainder of the volumes are shared between white wine and muscat.
Generic AOC "Corse" represents 55.5% of approved volumes. Patrimonio and Ajaccio represent respectively 13.6% and 7.3%, Muscat 2, 6%.
The repartition of the AOC village is as followed: Calvi: 7.6%, cap Corse: 1,1% Porto Vecchio: 2,1%,
Figari: 3,8%, Sartène 6.4%.

	Country wines : Eloquent figures and continual qualitative evolution
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The country wines “Vin de pays de l’île de Beauté”, represent the first volume of Corsican wine production, with 203 581 hl harvested wine in 2003.
The global production passed from 2 to 3 % in 1980 to 60 % currently. These wines are the perfect first approach of the wine of our island, because they reflect the wide range of soils and varietals, with various grounds, climates and grape varieties of the island.

Since the year 2002/2003, our country wines can take the second denomination” Vin de Pays des Portes de la Mediterranée”, translated into “Country Wines at the Gates of the Mediterranean.

Their production corresponds to very specific criteria’s; output by hectare (on an average lower than 60hl/ha), encépagement, voluminal alcoholometry meters, organoleptic examination.

For encépagement: The wines must be produced only with following
type of vines: Aleatico, Barbarossa, Frank cabernet, Sauvignon Cabernet, White Carignan, Carignan, Chardonnay, Chasan, Chenin, Cinsaut, Ganson, Gramon, White Grenache, Grenache, Lledoner pelut, Merlot, Monérac, Mourvèdre, Muscatel with small grains, Muscatel with small grains red, Muscatel of Alexandria, Niellucciu, Pinot, Portan, Riminese, Sauvignon, Sciacarellu, Tempranillo, White Ugni, Vermentinu.
The output with the hectare should not exceed 80 hectolitres. The wines must present an alcoholometry title from at least 10%.
The grape harvest must be identified and separated from those of the wines not corresponding to the VDP.
From ten campaigns, approved volumes doubled, according to a regular increase because of the qualitative level suggested. The production is distributed between 50 % of red wines, 35 % of rosé wines and 15% white wines.