Mattei Cap Corse Blanc

750ml bottle

17% abv

• Among the most famous of blanc quinquina, exceptionally versatile in mixed drinks
• Minerality, acidity and floral tones balanced with a gentle quinine bitterness
• The local Cedrat fruit adds an exceptional citrus aroma
• Producer Louis-Napoléon Mattei began in 1872; still family owned
• Serve on ice with soda/tonic, or in cocktails with gin or agave spirit

A true Quinquina Blanc, and unique among aperitif wines. The profile of the Cap Corse Mattei BLANC aperitif wine is defined by its distinctly Corsican components. Its all-mistelle base is of Vermentinu and Muscat Petit Grains, lending a terrific minerality, acidity and floral tones. The local Cedrat (aka citron) adds unique citrus aroma and a silky texture. Since its creation in 1872 by Louis-Napoléon Mattei, Cap Corse Mattei is the oldest and best known aperitif of Corsica. Still today family owned, and all macerations, aging and bottling are done in house.

As a quinquina, Cap Corse Mattei BLANC is flavored with cinchona bark (quinine), which adds spice and depth in the mid and back palate. Fantastic on ice with tonic or soda, and even more so with a pour of gin or an agave spirit.

In 1872, a merchant named Louis-Napoléon Mattei named his aperitif wine after his native Cap Corse, a peninsula of Corsica that juts northward into the Mediterranean. A territory of France, Corsica has over the centuries been influenced by both France and Italy, as well as northern Africa. Mattei discovered the beneficial properties of cinchona tree bark during a voyage to the Caribbean, and he brought it to Cap Corse to blend with local wine made from Muscat and Vermentinu grapes. He added spices that made their way through Cap Corse’s bustling port, as well as Cedrat (citron), a thick-peeled ancestor of lemon. Cap Corse Mattei Quinquina was soon exported across the globe.

The beneficial properties of the cinchona tree were originally discovered by the Quechua, a people indigenous to Peru and Bolivia, who found it an effective muscle relaxant to calm shivering due to low temperatures. The Quechua would mix the ground bark of cinchona trees with sweetened water to offset the bark’s bitter taste, thus producing tonic water. Jesuit missionaries in the early 1600s brought this back to Rome, where quinine in unextracted form came into use to treat malaria, which was endemic to the swamps and marshes surrounding the city of Rome and responsible for the deaths of several popes, many cardinals and countless common Roman citizens. Quinine was isolated and named in 1820 by French researchers, the name being derived from the original Quechua (Inca) word for the cinchona tree bark, quina or quina-quina, which means “bark of bark” or “holy bark”. Large-scale use of quinine as a malaria preventative started around 1850, consumed in tonics or aperitif wines such as these. With other spices and wines selected to balance, many of these quinine aperitif wines became famous and sought out first as delicious and refreshing aperitif drinks.