Wines from the South of France have the greatest reputation for those tipples that taste just as good back at home as they do on your glorious French holiday. Let’s focus however on one part of the Great French South that deserves a little more attention: Roussillon.
Where is Roussillon?
Roussillon is a small, well-established, unpretentious, yet high class wine appellation in the South of France located within the greater Pyrénées-Orientales area, bordering Catalonia, Spain. It’s often bundled together with Languedoc as Langedoc-Roussillon due to their proximity to each other, but they actually have quite different characters. The area of Roussillon has quite the Spanish vibe thanks to its south westerly location down by the Pyrenees mountains. If you’ve ever visited Perpignan, you’ve been to the heart of Roussillon.
What makes Roussillon wines great?
This is a region made up of a patchwork of very small, family run properties - 2166 at time of counting - with 400 private cellars and 25 co-ops, driving 75% of Roussillon production between them. Yields here are absolutely tiny, which means quality is kept very high. We’re talking, in some cases, about 28.2 hectolitres per hectare, which is one glass per vine! The region has an ideal Mediterranean climate with the mountain slopes mitigating the warmth of the hot sun with their altitude for the vines grown on them. Fun fact: It is also the number one region in France for Organic and Biodynamic viticulture, which gives us an indication about how much the winemakers care about their land and the health of their vines.
Which wine styles come from Roussillon?
In the past, the still reds and whites have been pretty decent but were certainly not going to set the world on fire, whereas their special sweet wines, the ‘vins doux naturels’ (fortified sweet wines), have often taken centre stage. Vins Doux Naturels remain emblematic of Roussillon’s viticultural heritage and winemaking know-how but the dry, still, wines (be they red, rosé or white), are anything but ordinary nowadays. Côtes du Roussillon and Côtes du Roussillon Village have been PDOs* in their own right since 1977, having pushed hard since 1955 for the accolade. There are 24 official grape varieties grown in Roussillon and amongst the sub-appellations are 14 PDOs and 2 PGIs**.
The Famous Fortified Sweet Wines (Vins Doux Naturels) of Roussillon
The VDNs, as the Vin Doux Naturel sweet wines are abbreviated, are made a bit like Port, where fermentation is stopped by the addition of neutral grape spirit before all the sugar has been fermented out, leaving a viscous, sweet wine with an ABV of around 16.5%. The key types of Vins Doux Naturels are Banyuls AOP, Banyuls Grand Cru AOP, Maury AOP, Muscat de Rivesaltes AOPs and Rivesaltes AOP, many of which can have various age statements and subtle variations to style including a hint of nutty ‘rancio’ derived from extended ageing in cement tanks, wood casks or even glass demijohns.
Banyuls and Maury are particularly famous, not just for their quality, but for the fact that they really are the greatest go-to style of wine to have with chocolate!
Banyuls AOP (Appellation d'Origine Protégée)
The highly-prized wines of Banyuls are made from almost shrivelled, ripe to bursting, Grenache grapes. The colour and style of Banyuls can differ hugely depending on how it is made and aged, varying from fruity, light red wines or floral and citrusy white and rosé to nutty, funky, treacley brown or amber wines. Banyuls also have Grand Cru wines, mainly from black Grenache, which have to see at least two and half years of ageing.
Maury AOP
On the other hand, wines from Maury AOP are usually darker in colour with tangy, dark berry notes although they do sometimes come in more pink and tawny styles too. This difference in style is attributed largely to its more inland location than Banyuls. Maury AOP can also be produced in white and amber styles.
Rivesaltes & Muscat de Rivesaltes AOP
Between the two AOPs above, as a unique common point, there’s a large area growing Muscat of Alexandria and small grains Muscat grapes to produce both Rivesaltes and Muscat de Rivesaltes wines. Neither rival Banyuls or Maury but they can also be complex and intense. Their “young” versions (Rivesaltes Grenat or Rosé, and Muscat de Rivesaltes), are honeyed and refreshing when served with cheese or as an aperitif. Muscat de Rivesaltes particularly is produced in huge quantities. Some fantastically made Rivesaltes Ambré and Tuilé do exist but they are harder to find in the UK market.
The dry, still wines of Roussillon
In the past, the unfortified wines of Roussillon were pretty unremarkable but more and more, we are seeing the quality rise thanks to an influx of producers racing here to take advantage of the cooler vineyard locations at altitude, particularly in the upper Agly Valley, which is inland from Perpignan. Here, there are already some ancient vines and great outcrops of schist soil that help give the wines a fine minerality and deep flavour.
Dry Whites
The dry, white wines from Roussillon tend to be very textural and weighty with refreshing acidity, salinity and minerality to balance the fruit. They make fabulous food wines. Grapes allowed in the PDO wines include White grenache, Grey Grenache, Macabeu, Tourbat/Malvoisie du Roussillon, Roussanne, Marsanne, Vermentino, Viognier and White Carignan. Most whites hail from the Côtes Catalanes (73%) with 22% from the Côtes de Roussillon, 5% from Collioure and a tiny amount, less than 1%, from IGP Côte Vermeille. PGI wines can use these aforementioned grapes plus Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Muscat d’Alexandrie.
Try these:
Domaine Lafage, Centenaire, IGP Côtes Catalanes 2021
80% Grenache Blanc, Grenache Gris, 20% Roussanne. Aromatic and richly coloured with ripe, tropical fruit on the nose. A tiny touch of oak here adds a splash of aniseed and texture. It’s a lovely, complex and creamy white that will sing with a nutty comté cheese.
Size: 750ml
ABV: 13%
Find it here for £12
Chrysopée Sélection Parcellaire, Domaine de Bila-Haut, Chapoutier, Collioure AOP, 2018
A blend of 90% Grey Grenache with 10% White Grenache, this wine is deep gold in colour with a touch of mineral rubber on the nose. Tropical and savoury, there’s a real earthiness on the palate and very ripe pineapple and coffee on the finish. White chocolate and coffee bean. A great foodie wine!
Size: 750ml
ABV: 13.5%
Find it here for £9
The Red Wines of Roussillon
Motus, Domaine Treloar, Côtes du Roussillon AOP, 2017
Made with a classic blend of 80% Mourvèdre, 15% Syrah and 5% Grenache Noir, this red has a lovely, velvety texture and bright red colour. Plenty of violet and garrigue notes on the nose with a pleasant note of grilled meat on the palate. Proper wine.
Size: 750ml
ABV: 14%
Find it here for £16.75
Res Fortes Wines Traveller, 2019
Almost entirely Syrah, which is unusual here, this is a super dry, old-school Syrah with lots of concentrated purple berry fruit and gravelly, mineral notes. This is a textural wine that tastes of its terroir! Get it open early to let it breathe and try it with some grilled meat.
Size: 750ml
ABV: 14.5%
Find it here for £31.45
Vin Doux Naturels
Domaine Cazes, AOP Muscat de Rivesaltes
70% Muscat d’Alexandrie, 20% Muscat à petits grains This sweet wine has fantastic, refreshing acidity with notes of verbena and lemon cake sitting alongside more tropical elements like fresh papaya and mango. A touch of bitterness on the finish makes this very moreish.
Size: 750ml
ABV: 15%
Find it here for £15.99.
Abbé Rous Banyuls Rimage, 2019
Intensely flavoured, voluptuous and complex, this sweet red is packed with red cherry and ripe raspberry notes up front with mocha creeping in on the palate and a hint of spice and dried herbs on the finish. A really lovely drop that would go down very well with chocolate mousse, dried fruit or even hard cheeses.
Size: 750ml
ABV: 16.5%
Find it here for £21.99
For more information about the wines of Roussillon, go to Wines of Roussillon
*PDO and PGI are two quality schemes that were created by the EU in 1992 to protect the authenticity of products from different regions of EU, limiting the ability to create fake products or poor imitations.
PGI stands for Protected Geographical Indication and it means that the wine in the bottle is made in the specified region, using specified techniques and showing characteristics of the area. 85% of the grapes used in PGI wines must be from the same geographical area where the wine is produced.
PDO, which stands for Protected Designation of Origin, is more stringent. It means all the stages of preparation of the wine are taking place in one area, from vine growing and winemaking, all the way to the bottling. 100% of grapes used to make the wine in the bottle will have come from the said area.