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Domaine de La Punta / Claude Cruells
The French call Corsica “Ile de Beauté,” the beautiful island. And indeed, the rugged, mountainous landscape of this Mediterranean isle is spectacular, with mountains in the center, a narrow coastal strip and historic cities. The French territory also holds millennia worth of history, of grapes, invasions and fierce independence.
It breeds wines with connections to both Italy and mainland France, yet they express their individuality and are totally different.
This is an island that’s resurrecting its roots through culture, food and wine. The Mediterranean’s most mountainous isle, Corsica is situated 110 miles southeast of the French Provençal coast, 50 miles west of Italy’s Tuscan coast and just north of Sardinia. Because of its stellar, sometimes scary terrain, it has been left more natural than most islands here, with plenty of native grapes, other flora and fauna.
The residence of early wine pioneer John MacArthur / Alamy
With its diverse microclimates and soils that allow a wide range of varieties to thrive, it’s easy to forget that Australia has almost no native grapes of its own. All the vines that yield world-renowned Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Riesling and more had to be brought from somewhere else.
The origins and growth of the Australian wine industry are tied to the colonization of the nation, first by Britain as a penal colony for convicts, and then by immigrants from around Europe.
English colonizer Captain James Cook in New South Wales / Alamy
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