Jean-Paul Vincensini & Fils

By founding the company CASTAGNA DI VALLERUSTIE in 1970 near the mountainous village of San Lorenzo in Corsica, Jean Paul Vincensini took the challenge of reviving the Corsican chestnut grove by combining traditional know-how with modern means.

The company, established in the heart of la Castagniccia (“Chestnut land” in Corsican), an immense chestnut grove, started with the production of the traditional chestnut flour; this product remains the pride of the family, who manages the entire production chain: choosing the varieties of chestnuts, maintenance of the groves, picking up the chestnuts, the drying, the threshing, the sorting, the work at the mill and the packaging.

The main asset of the region being the preservation of its nature and the absence of pollution, the company started to commit to Organic farming quite early on, and became one of the first AB certified farms of Corsica. For over ten years now, the founder’s sons have taken over the business by extending the range of products : they started the production of different varieties of chestnut jams and other types of jams, keeping the typical organic Corsican fruits as a basis.

At the same time, they developed fine but not very expensive products based on chestnut flour such as the Canistrelli or chestnut flour cake, and started developing their own famous charcuterie bio products “Terrine Corse” as well as other type of cured meat such as french salami and cured ham made from the Corsican pig “Nustrale”.

The Nustrale is a breed of Iberian origin, distinguished by its small size, its great rusticity and a very characteristic black color. They are slow-growing pigs, living in the open all year round: In summer, they wander to higher pastures in the mountains, where they mostly feed on roots and grass. Coming back down to the valleys in autumn, they find nourishment in the undergrowth of forests, mostly chestnuts or acorns, along with barley and other cereals, depending on climatic conditions, which makes this breed a very healthy one, hence the unique and delicious taste they produce. But the Nustrale pig is a protected breed and only a thousand pigs can be slaughtered each year, making the Coriscan charcuterie a really rare product. Jean paul vincesini owns about 200 such Corsica pigs who can live and grow freely in his farm’s chestnut forest and local.

However, the fame of Vincensini & Fils products doesn't come only from their superior quality meat or fruits, they also strongly emphasize the quality of the production, using only traditional processing methods and carefully selected raw ingredients. That quality has been rewarded with a combination of several french quality labels : Most of the Vincensini products are certified AB Ecocert (Organic Agriculture products), AOC (controlled designation of origin, which ensures products are made with local ingredients and traditional recipes) as well as the European organic certification.