The Delicious Island

WILD, REMOTE CORSICA IS HOME TO SOME OF FRANCE’SMOST EXTRAORDINARY WINES—WITH FOOD TO MATCH.

- Alexander Lobrano

AFTER THE JEEP HAD CRAWLED UP the steep, rocky slope, above a valley planted with vineyards and filled with birdsong, Antoine Arena pulled the hand brake and turned off the motor. “These vines are like a family tree,” he said. “Some were planted by my grandfather, some by my father, some by me, and now, some by my sons.”

We sat in silence for a minute enjoying the view and the breeze, which was scented by the maquis, the wild scrub that covers much of Corsica. This perfume evolved constantly, lofting gusts of wild mint, thyme, rosemary, and the honeyed bouquet of the yellow flowering broom that lit the green mountainside on this late spring afternoon.

Corsica, lying about 150 miles southeast of Nice and roughly three times the size of Rhode Island, is one of the most stunning places in the Mediterranean (in France, it’s rightly known as L’Île de Beauté, the beautiful island). Its wild magnificence is explained in large part by the ferocious love its inhabitants have for their island: Most of them identify as Corsicans first and French second, and they have zealously protected their home from being spoiled by mass tourism. And, as I learned during a recent road trip that began with Arena’s vineyards in Patrimonio in the north and ended near Figari some 100-plus miles to the south, the island is now producing some of the best and most distinctive wines made anywhere in France.