Memories of Roussillon
07-Dec-08 - We went on a Circle of Wine Writers trip to Roussillon in June last year which I remember as being an excellent set of visits and a real eye-opener as to what's happening in the region. I particularly recall the wonderful landscape and the wide variety of the wines - the classic sweet styles and some startlingly modern examples. I was also fascinated to see that town and village name signs were given in French and Occitan, but apparently most people at home speak Catalan. The Hotel Les Vignes in Rivesaltes (very comfortable, excellent value - €36 a night - by the way, and run by a most charming couple who speak perfect English - +33-4-6864-3434) was flying the French, Catalan and EU flags.
Also on the trip was Per Karlsson, a CWW member from Sweden, and I hadn't realised that he was shooting video until last week when he sent me a couple of samples featuring me lurking somewhere in the background. The first is from our visit to Domaine Boucabeille in Corneilla de la Rivière on Wednesday 13-Jun-07 and features Jean Boucabeille, son of the house, who currently runs the show. The vineyard behind him is entirely worked by hand and they don't even use tractors. He told me the reason why is that tractors compact the soil and, in so doing crush the worms. A single worm, apparently, shifts a ton of soil in a full year, and that turnover is vital for aeration, drainage and for the other minute wildlife which make the soil what it is... And it's the soil which grows the vine. Watch the video here and you'll see that we were tasting his wines under a bower in the vineyard, with me interviewing Jean for a feature on Splash FM. His wines were excellent, and I gave five of them 17+: Monte Negro 2005 (Grenache/Syrah - 'meaty' fruit, complex and minerally - 17); Monte Negro 2004 ('the extra year in bottle really shows' - 17); Les Orris 2004 (Syrah/Mourvèdre/Grenache - big Syrah style with power and weight, mature - 17; Les Orris 2003 (even better -Rhônish in style with big Syrah 'beef' - 17½) and the 2002 (17 - Philglas & Swiggott £16.99).
Another memorable visit was to Domaine Matassa in Calce the following day, with winemaker Tom Lubbe. He's made wine in South Africa and Bordeaux and gave us a splendid picnic in a lovely, dreaming valley, with a tasting of his wines in a roofless shelter in the middle of the vineyard. I interviewed him for my radio feature as well - watch the video here. Tom is something of a perfectionist - "you can only make beautiful wine in a beautiful place" - and describes himself as a 'non-interventionist winemaker. We tasted four of his wines with an excellent tapas lunch, and they all scored 17+. Cuvée Marguerite 2006 (Viognier/Muscat barrel-fermented - big, soft but 'savoury' fruit. minerally, delicious - 17 - Waitrose £17.57); Matassa Blanc 2004 (Grenache Gris/Macabeu - lovely big 'savoury' fruit, complex, herby spicy, fab - 18 - Bordeaux Index £17.78); Cuvée Romanissa 2005 (Grenache/Carignan.Mourvèdre - big, soft, dark, subtle, musky fruit - 17 - Bordeaux Index £14.50); Matassa Rouge 2005 (old-vine Grenache - rich, big fruit yet lovely freshness - 17).
Perhaps most memorable visit was next day to the Château de Jau in Cases de Pène, which is a grand old house with a modern-art gallery and a wonderful restaurant terrace under what is claimed to be France's oldest mulberry tree (they used to make silk here). The restaurant operates in the summer months, and, rather unusually, you order by the wine, and with the wine comes the food - locally produced sausages and lamb cutlets, cooked over sarments in a big outdoor oven. The whole thing is run by the strikingly-attractive Estelle Dauré who told me that "there is no jaja without Jau". I think I know what she meant... We tasted La Jaja de Jau which is a simple, everyday red ('good glugging stuff') but the best wine of the day was the Château de Jau 2003 (Syrah/Mourvèdre/Grenache/Carignan - excellent power, weight and structure, complex length - 17). The Château's traditional sweet wines are stocked by Les Caves d
e Pyrene.
Interviewing Estelle Dauré at the Château de Jau
Also on the trip was Per Karlsson, a CWW member from Sweden, and I hadn't realised that he was shooting video until last week when he sent me a couple of samples featuring me lurking somewhere in the background. The first is from our visit to Domaine Boucabeille in Corneilla de la Rivière on Wednesday 13-Jun-07 and features Jean Boucabeille, son of the house, who currently runs the show. The vineyard behind him is entirely worked by hand and they don't even use tractors. He told me the reason why is that tractors compact the soil and, in so doing crush the worms. A single worm, apparently, shifts a ton of soil in a full year, and that turnover is vital for aeration, drainage and for the other minute wildlife which make the soil what it is... And it's the soil which grows the vine. Watch the video here and you'll see that we were tasting his wines under a bower in the vineyard, with me interviewing Jean for a feature on Splash FM. His wines were excellent, and I gave five of them 17+: Monte Negro 2005 (Grenache/Syrah - 'meaty' fruit, complex and minerally - 17); Monte Negro 2004 ('the extra year in bottle really shows' - 17); Les Orris 2004 (Syrah/Mourvèdre/Grenache - big Syrah style with power and weight, mature - 17; Les Orris 2003 (even better -Rhônish in style with big Syrah 'beef' - 17½) and the 2002 (17 - Philglas & Swiggott £16.99).
Another memorable visit was to Domaine Matassa in Calce the following day, with winemaker Tom Lubbe. He's made wine in South Africa and Bordeaux and gave us a splendid picnic in a lovely, dreaming valley, with a tasting of his wines in a roofless shelter in the middle of the vineyard. I interviewed him for my radio feature as well - watch the video here. Tom is something of a perfectionist - "you can only make beautiful wine in a beautiful place" - and describes himself as a 'non-interventionist winemaker. We tasted four of his wines with an excellent tapas lunch, and they all scored 17+. Cuvée Marguerite 2006 (Viognier/Muscat barrel-fermented - big, soft but 'savoury' fruit. minerally, delicious - 17 - Waitrose £17.57); Matassa Blanc 2004 (Grenache Gris/Macabeu - lovely big 'savoury' fruit, complex, herby spicy, fab - 18 - Bordeaux Index £17.78); Cuvée Romanissa 2005 (Grenache/Carignan.Mourvèdre - big, soft, dark, subtle, musky fruit - 17 - Bordeaux Index £14.50); Matassa Rouge 2005 (old-vine Grenache - rich, big fruit yet lovely freshness - 17).
Perhaps most memorable visit was next day to the Château de Jau in Cases de Pène, which is a grand old house with a modern-art gallery and a wonderful restaurant terrace under what is claimed to be France's oldest mulberry tree (they used to make silk here). The restaurant operates in the summer months, and, rather unusually, you order by the wine, and with the wine comes the food - locally produced sausages and lamb cutlets, cooked over sarments in a big outdoor oven. The whole thing is run by the strikingly-attractive Estelle Dauré who told me that "there is no jaja without Jau". I think I know what she meant... We tasted La Jaja de Jau which is a simple, everyday red ('good glugging stuff') but the best wine of the day was the Château de Jau 2003 (Syrah/Mourvèdre/Grenache/Carignan - excellent power, weight and structure, complex length - 17). The Château's traditional sweet wines are stocked by Les Caves d
e Pyrene.Interviewing Estelle Dauré at the Château de Jau
posted by John Radford at
07:44
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