VENERABLE VINES DOMAINE SAPARALE
There can’t be many vineyards with their own police station — but Domaine Saparale, in southwest Corsica, has an unusual history. The estate’s original owner, Philippe de Rocca Serra, had big ideas when he established it in 1850. “He was a lawyer whose grand ambition was to create Corsican wines that would rival the great wines of Bordeaux,” explains current owner Julie Farinelli. “Everyone thought he was a madman because, back then, the wine was just for the locals.”
Funding his project by practicing law in North Africa, Philippe eventually brought his grand plan to fruition, establishing a sprawling estate that evolved into a selfsufficient hamlet, complete with its own police station. “There were lodgings for 20 gendarmes — they protected the site and the surrounding valley from bandits. There was even a little prison,” explains Julie, gesturing towards the faint painted sign on the wall of the stone building in front of us, which reads ‘Gendarmerie Nationale’.
While Philippe enjoyed several decades of success, selling wine in Paris and winning awards, the estate’s fortunes declined in the early 1900s, and, as the century wore on, it fell into disrepair. Then, in 1970, a childless descendant of Philippe bequeathed it to his housekeeper — the grandmother of Julie’s husband Philippe.
Since 1998, the Farinelli family have been slowly bringing the estate back to life; three buildings, including a former
