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A TASTE OF CORSICA This French island is home to a host of sumptuous specialities, including


chestnut dishes, charcuterie and some of the world’s most complex honey WORDS: CAROLYN BOYD


VENE R ABLE VINE S DOMAINE SAPAR ALE


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 self- sufficient 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 oil mill, are


106 NATIONALGEOGRAPHIC.COM/TRAVEL


now luxury self-catering lodges, and work on a hotel is in progress; yet it’s their wines that really make it worth the trip. While most of Corsica’s wines are based on


the same six grape varieties — sciaccarellu, niellucciu and grenache for reds; vermentino, genovese and biancu gentile for whites — the terroir changes significantly from region to region. Domaine Saparale is set on the granite terroir of Sartène, which gives its wines their robust flavour and strong personalities. As well as producing reds, whites and


rosés across their three main labels, the Farinellis have recently started making wine in amphoras — the terracotta vessels used by the ancient Greeks and Romans — with the neglected carcaghjolu grape variety, which in Corsica only grows on southern soil. This type of small-batch, vintage experiment fits within their Oenoteca brand, which comprises wines made with a single grape variety, whenever the harvest is plentiful enough. Happily, my visit is rounded off by a


tasting with the estate’s sommelier Meghan, the highlight of which is a wondrous white Oenoteca wine. Together, Julie and I breathe in its aromas: smoky and woody with a flash of fruit, its flavours are as distinct as the estate on which it was made. saparale.com


C HE S TNUT SP E C IAL S PAT I S SERI E CA SANOVA


There’s no mistaking the staple product in Corsica: chestnuts make an appearance on every menu, whether as caramelised shards on a velouté entrée or part of a moelleux à


la châtaigne, a moist cake that’s made with chestnut flour. Even the charcuterie comes courtesy of chestnuts, as the local pigs graze on them within the dense forests that cloak the landscape. “Most villages are set at around 800m


above sea level, which is where the chestnut trees grow,” explains guide Gabriel Ottaviani. “The harvest takes place in October and traditionally it was a collective job, with the whole village out collecting chestnuts. People would put them in racks above their kitchens and living rooms, where they’d dry out. They’d then be sorted and shelled and milled into flour.” This sweet, biscuity flour is one of the


island’s most prized products and holds an AOP label (protected origin). It’s traditionally used for pulenda, which is similar to Italian polenta and made by stirring chestnut flour, water and salt together in a pot with a wooden baton called a pulendaghju until it comes together to form a dough that’s then sliced and fried in butter. A winter special across Corsica, pulenda is traditionally served alongside the island’s beloved brocciu cheese and figatellu sausage. Many of Corsica’s chestnut groves can


be found around the town of Corte, located among the mountains in the island’s north. The shops and restaurants lining its rambling streets are the ideal places to seek out chestnut-based delicacies. At Patisserie Casanova, for example, specialities on offer include chestnut cakes and falculella, Corte’s signature pastries, which are made with egg yolk, flour, sugar and orange zest, all baked


IMAGES: ALAMY; DOMAINE SAPARALE


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