Erbalunga

Corsica & Sardinia

16 - 23 September 2007

Both the Corsicans and the Sardinians are fiercely independent mountain people, paradoxically living close to the the sea but having traditionally little to do with it. Over the years the inhabitants of these islands tended to flee from the coast and live in the mountainous interior.

On the coast there were grim watch-towers on a permanent lookout for the sails of pirate ships from north Africa, and the heavily fortified ports, owned by the Genovese or whichever European power claimed to own the islands. In the C19th, when piracy in the Mediterranean was stamped out, villages began to spring up on the coast to take advantage of the sea.

This trip offers you a special insight into these two fascinating islands. Corsica, where we start is quite simply a very beautiful island, and indeed is known as ‘Ile de Beauté’. It is wonderfully unspoilt, partly due to the inaccessibility of its interior with its craggy maquis covered mountains. The local cuisine is mostly strongly flavoured peasant dishes such as brocciu (the local cheese), pasta and doughnuts made from chestnut flour, stuffed sardines, and when in season, game – all a far cry from ‘nouvelle cuisine’.

Our hotel on Corsica is an attractive small manor house in the charming seaside hamlet of Erbalunga, unsurprisingly an artist’s haunt. Our wine visits concentrate on the Cap Corse region and wines include very decent reds of Patrimonio, zingy white Vermentinu and luscious sweet Muscats.

We visit Bonifacio, the lovely Genovese town at the southern tip of Corsica then cross by ferry to Sardinia. Our tour here covers Costa Smeralda, in the north-east, then the Spanish influenced town of Alghero in the west. The last two nights are spent near Cagliari on the south coast.

One of the fascinations of Sardinia are the mysterious Nuraghi, the bronze-age ruins that are scattered throughout the centre of the island.

For the wines, the main grapes are Vermentino for white and Cannonau for red, joined by international varieties such as Merlot and Syrah. The industry was dominated by the cooperatives but recently many family-run estates have come to the fore with a quest to produce world class wines. We will visit all these top producers including Sella e Mosca, Argiolas,Capichera, Pala and Tenuta Soletta.

With the wine we enjoy local dishes such as the island’s most famous dish, porceddu – spit roasted pork. The sheep’s cheeses in particular are many and varied. Over half of Italy’s sheep live in the mountains of Sardinia!