Loyal readers of The Vine Route know that I’m a big fan of Corsican wines. Leading Corsican winemakers such as Christian Imbert of Domaine de Torraccia, Antoine Arena of Domaine Arena, and Yves Canarelli of Clos Canarelli have all been featured here.
Part of my fascination with Corsica is related to my wife being Corsican, but I’m also attracted to the emotional honesty that winemakers like the above-mentioned men bring to their craft. All three have worked incredibly hard to replant native Corsican grape varieties that had been forgotten in the 1960s rush to plant higher-yield, more disease-resistant international varieties of grapes. In a homogeneous world where many winemakers aim to create an “international-style” of wine that will please critics and play to the lowest-denominator consumer palate, the best Corsican wines stand out for their distinctiveness, freshness, and how well they accompany food.
Unfortunately, these are some of the best wines that people have never tasted. One of the reasons is that they tend to be moderately expensive; one, because they come from an island and everything has to be shipped, and, secondly, because the wineries are small, production is limited.
Then there’s what I call the “Napoleon” factor. Occasionally, I’ll hear some English being spoken on a beach in Corsica. Usually, it’s an English couple on holiday with their children or some Canadians who live in Paris. In the 20 years that I’ve been vacationing there, I can count on one hand the number of Americans that I’ve encountered. When you ask any American if they know anything about Corsica, you almost always get the same answer: “Hey, isn’t that where Napoleon was born?”
OK, it is far away, and, since you’ve got to travel through Paris or Marseilles to get a flight, it is expensive. But, it’s worth it, not only for the aforementioned wine, but also for its unbelievable scenery, and for its people who, like the wine, have managed to retain their identity and character in an increasingly uniform world.
And to help convince you that it is worth the energy and expense to get there, I’ve worked hard over the past year to research the best wineries to visit, along with some of the most interesting hotels and restaurants to try. Along with that, I’ve gathered together information about cultural and prehistoric sites that I’ve visited over the past two decades, and I’ve come up with suggestions on how to prepare your vineyard tours.
You’ll find these guides (one for the northern part of the island, one for the south) on the WineTravelGuides.com website, the best online source of wine tourism information for France, and much of Italy and Spain, that I know of. And I say that not because my guides are on this site (a fact that I’m very proud of, by the way), but because I’ve used Wine Travel guides for several different wine regions in France. They are, at £5 a guide, the best-value-for-money wine tourism guides that you can find. Even better, if you only want to review the information online, you don’t need to pay to download the guides.
Les Grapes of Wrath
I have another bit of interesting news, besides the availability of these wine guides. I’ve wanted, for some time, to increase my wine knowledge. Recently, I learned that I had been accepted to the DNO, a two-year wine study program in France that leads to a Diplôme National d’Œnology. Besides Toulouse, where I’ll be studying, there are similar DNO programs in Dijon, Bordeaux, Montpellier and Champagne. They only accept around 25-30 students for each program, so I’m quite honored to be among a class that includes students from China, Turkey and Spain.
The program starts with a five-week training program where students pick grapes at local vineyards. I’ll be at the Domaine Plageoles in Gaillac. I selected this vineyard because of its reputation as one of southwestern France’s finest wineries, and the fact that the father-son team of Robert and Bernard Plageoles make the type of honest, authentic wine that I particularly appreciate, one that speaks more of cultural tradition than commercialization.
Wish me luck. I’ve only harvested grapes over weekends; never for five weeks. And besides having not set foot in a classroom for over 20 years, I’m going to be studying Biology and Chemistry, gulp, in French.
As time permits, I’ll provide periodic updates about my studies on this blog.
Au boulot!
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
Tom, I’m proud to have your really insightful and comprehensive guides on the website. You had already proved that you wrote both passionately and well about the wines of Corsica on this, your fantastic blog, so I was delighted when you agreed to share your knowledge on my site. I can’t wait to visit the island myself, a long overdue visit by the sound of it.
And, very best of luck with the course – very brave to tackle it all in French – and very brave to put your back through so many weeks of harvest too!
Thanks, Wink, without your encouragement and wine tourism experience, those Corsica wine tourism guides would still be on my “to-do” list. I can’t wait to hear your impressions of Corsica and its wines. I’ll be careful next week, when we start the vendange. Last year, I narrowly missed cutting off the tip of one of my pinkies. Typing with nine fingers would seriously limit my writing abilities.
congratulations on being accepted in the program, quite an honor–I know you will do well. Good luck. Love, Dad
Dad, I appreciate your encouragement, and your kind words will certainly help when my back is aching over the next five weeks or when my head is spinning from trying to learn chemistry and biology in the language of Molière.
Good luck with it all. Tom. I am partly envious (I like the sound of your studies) but then again glad it’s you and not me (I’m sure it will be very hard work too!). More power to your elbow. I look forward to reading about it on the Vine Route. Best wishes, Louise
Thanks, Louise. I’ll keep you updated on my studies. And, as you undoubtedly know, you have an excellent DNO program not far from you in Montpellier.
Lovely, it really makes me want to go to Corsica next year. Unfortunately working in the educational field means I will have to go there during the crowdy summer season.
Hi Thomas, if you avoid the major cities (Ajaccio, Porto-Vechio, etc.), you will avoid most of the summer crowds.
Congratulation for the Guide, Tom! and even more congratulation for your acceptance at the wine school! I’m sure, you’ll make it – with some effort, but brilliantly in the end:-)! I went to wine-school in France, as you know, not an “prestigieux” one, like yours, but with the same problem: not having been at school for more than 20 years and following in a foreign language… and with much younger students around me – but it was worth while and refreshing!
Wish you all the best (especially for your back) at Plageolles too – 5 weeks of harvesting is a rather tough exercise! But they are very interesting people, so you will not waste your time – not sure, if they will still remember me – we visited in the early 90th, when we went to fetch our plants in Gaillac – and I transcribed a long and interesting conference of Robert, which he held about local grape varieties at Béziers Oenopole at the same period – with a tiny tape recorder, switching for and back for hours, to get everything right;-)…
que des souvenirs….
Iris, thanks for your kind words. You’re my hero, and I would like nothing more than to follow in your footsteps. I’ll mention to the Plageolles that I know you. I’m sure that they haven’t forgotten you. Did you solve your sanglier problem? I hope that they left you some grapes this year.
I read the wine guide, and it was very informative.. Corsica sounds like a wonderful place to visit, and the wine would be wonderful to try! Good luck to you!
I hope that you get the opportunity to visit Corsica someday, Laurie. You and John would love it.