3CUPS Blog

What's at the wine bar this weekend? A bit of a Mediterranean invasion. Good wines from two of France's least-appreciated vine growing regions. I guess I'm in the mood for wine that tastes sunny. Come join us at the back of the new store for a bright beginning to your weekend. Cheers!

Option #1: Corsican Wine Flight ($8)

Wine #1... Domaine Granajolo, $14.99

Wine #2... Comte Peraldi Alaccio Rose, $14.99

Wine #3... Clos Teddi Patrimonio Rouge, $20.99

Corsica is wildly beautiful, and could define one's notion of the Mediterranean. It's not an easy place to farm, despite evidence that people have been cultivating vines there since the Phoenicians settled the island in 570 BC. Camera-toting visitors flock to Corsica for the obvious aesthetic appeal, but historically, visitors were weapon-toting invaders: Greeks, Etruscans, Romans, Tuscans and Genoese all landed, ate seafood, sunbathed and conquered. Italian states intermittently feuded for control of the island, and in spite of the Corsicans' nationalist sentiment and strong movement for independence (attitudes still present today), the island belonged to the Genoese from the middle of the 14th century until 1764, when the Republic of Genoa sold to France. At the end of the 19th century most Corsicans still spoke Italian. Residents of the Mediterranean's 3rd largest island have an uneasy relationship with their status as a French region or collectivité territoriale. The Napoleon connection may not help matters. The most famous Frenchman of all time may have been born there, but one empire-building native son doesn't seem enough to erase centuries of cultural ties to the Italian peninsula.

Option #2: Provencal Wine Flight ($6)

Wine #1... Domaine du Bagnol Cassis Blanc, $22.99

Wine #2... In Fine Rouge, $10.99

Wine #3... Chateau Annibals, $9.99

Provence is a tourist mecca, a region filled with pretty seaside towns. It is a destination for an escape from sweaty Paris or Marseilles (or Berlin). Tourism, not wine, keeps Provence affluent. A rocky, sun-bleached beach, warm breezes, old men idly smoking cigarettes and playing boules- you can drink and enjoy these anywhere, but it is the perfect wine for here, it’s native terroir. This stereotypical Provencal scene attracts the leisure class of many nations, who also idly wander the streets and coastline of Provence, eating seafood, drinking rosé. Pink wine is fully 1/3 of the region’s output. Take a few bottles home with you and they’re good, but just not the same. . .unless you live by the sea, with white cliffs and wild herbs and crusty French seniors a part of your landscape. Limestone cliffs and the sea are as important to the exceptional quality of wine made here. Few bottles escape the restaurants and summer villas of Provence. Coastal Provence can suffer bouts of torrid summer heat. Without the cooler (particularly nighttime) temperatures created by the Mediterranean Sea, Add to this acidity a mineral character leached up by vine roots boring down through brittle, porous limestone and the resulting wine has appealing freshness and delineation to its ripe fruit flavors.