Corsica
You never hear the wine snobs in Paris talk about Corsican wine. This is pretty amazing!
After all, wine making in Corsica dates back to six centuries before Christ when the island was settled by the Greek Phocean traders shortly after their founding of Massalia (Marseilles) on the southeastern coast of France. Corsican wine was also appreciated by the ancient Romans.
Corsica also boasts more than 30 indigenous grape varieties (cepages), most notably Sciaccarello, Vermentino, and Nielluccio. Then there are others like Aleaticu, Minustellu and Carcaghjolu Neru. There are even white grapes like Biancu Gentile, Codivarta and Genovese. And as you can see on the map, grapes are grown in many places on the island of Corsica!
With this modicum of knowledge of Corsican wines, I was delighted when my good friends Alexandra and Claude invited me to visit them in their country home in Corsica. I might go next week.
And as it happens, recently walking through Paris’ Japanese quarter (rue Sainte Anne), I stumbled upon a Corsican wine bar, “A L’Heure du Vin”, run by Bruno, my new friend (of course!).
So I recently popped in to see Bruno to get an initiation on Corsican wines. It’s a whole new universe of full bodied, delicious wines. As I had previously eaten lunch, he recommended some Corsican cheese to go with the wine. As he explained, they don’t use cow’s milk for Corsican cheese, but sheep and goat’s milk. So some cheese from sheep’s milk it was. Delicious!
Next stop, Bastia in Corsica!