Roussillon: Mas Crémat, Espira de l'Agly

Originally from Burgundy, Catherine Jeannin's beautiful hillside Mas was established (and replanted) 17 years ago, complete with charming old Catalan farmhouse buildings; and is found down a signposted, vine-enclosed track between the villages of Espira and Cases-de-Pène. You catch a glimpse of it while driving along the main road; but you have to carry on towards Espira, turn left at the roundabout up a hill and then left off this road. Now that her son and daughters have returned after various studies and work experience to help run the estate, Catherine wants to develop the wine tourism side by offering accommodation and lunches to small groups of wine lovers, as well as regular events such as their 'open day' in June. Watch this space...
In addition to all the usual red suspects, they have 10 ha/25 acres of white varieties including the less common Vermentino and Carignan blanc, plus both Muscats. "I'd like to increase plantings of red," she explained, implying she'll remove some of these white grape vines. "But it's important to have a good mix of vins de pays and dearer wines. We find people buy either the cheapest or the dearest, not so much the mid-price ones." Their 'entry level' red is indeed great value (see below) and sensibly Catherine believes that "we don't want to price our top wines too high."

Tried and tested back in March 2007:
2005 Grenache vieilles vignes, vin de pays Côtes Catalanes white (70+ year-old Grenache blanc & gris 14%) - subtle toasty notes mingle with apricot, peach and floral tones; elegant soft mouth-feel, attractive but lacks a bit of zing perhaps. €12 85+
2006 Tamarius red, vin de pays Côtes Catalanes (Syrah Grenache Carignan) - delicious vibrant black cherry/currant fruit with light cedar tones, fresh and easy palate with a touch of grip to finish. €4.30 85-87
2005 Côtes du Roussillon red (Grenache Syrah Carignan Mourvèdre) - still quite fruity although savoury too with rustic edges; more structured and firmer with nice backdrop of fruit, quite elegant and long. 87-89
2003 Cuvée Bastien, Côtes du Roussillon Villages (Syrah Grenache Mourvèdre 14%) - smoky and peppery showing lovely fruit with liquorice notes; concentrated and firm v spicy and lush with very light chocolate oak coating, again good balance grip and length. 90-92

Mas Crémat, 66600 Espira de l'Agly. Tel: 04 68 38 92 06, www.mascremat.com, mascremat@mascremat.com.

Roussillon: Olivier Pithon, Calce

Updated Dec 2012 - see below.

This much talked-about domaine (although I'm still not 100% convinced why...) is found on the 'high' street in sleepy Calce: to find it, look for a clue outside on the pavement such as the odd winery hose or empty palette. Olivier started doing his own thing in 2001, having worked for Gérard Gauby among others, and thinks the Roussillon "has a big future in quality wines" thanks to its "rich variety of very different terroirs and old vines." He now has 15 ha / 37 acres spread out around the village and up towards the Col de la Dona (a lovely spot for a drive or walking), planted with about 60% red varieties. He also believes that "the best white wines in the Languedoc and Roussillon are from around here! The region has everything going for it, you can do lots of different styles – simple, big, elegant, less heavy... We just need to build up its image, new growers are arriving all the time hoping to follow in the footsteps of people like Gauby." And, like many, feels the Roussillon's main advantage over parts of the Languedoc is that "people kept their old vines and it's cooler (relatively) and windier here, favouring the production of finer wines."

Here are a few wines I tasted from vat in Olivier's garage cellar (in the sense of compact premises rather than home to overblown styles) back in March 2007 (read on for latest vintages):
2006 Cuvée Laïs white (Macabeu Grenache blanc) – quite rich and toasty v perfumed and exotic apricot fruit, fresh and long with nice poise on the finish. 87-89
2006 La D18 (named after the road!) white (100% Grenache blanc) – very different from above, more mineral and appley with lightly creamy and spicy edges, again fresh acidity to finish.
2006 red (mostly young Carignan) – shows nice floral cherry fruit with light grip, peppery and fruity. 85+
2005 Saturne (Grenache Carignan Syrah) – about to be bottled: complex wild flowers and ripe cherry fruit, liquorice palate with a tight, dry and fresh finish. 89-91
I've tried one or two others since, I'll add them to this blurb when i've relocated them.

UPDATE 2012 live from Millésime Bio wine show, Montpellier!

2011 Mon P'tit Pithon blanc (Macabeu, Grenache blanc/gris) – appley nutty and leesy, perhaps lacks a bit of character in the end. €8.20 cellar door.

2011 Laïs blanc (Macabeu, Grenache blanc/gris: barrel sample) – quite rich and toasty with apricot fruit tones, concentrated with nice yeast-lees bite, long finish balancing power and fresh acidity. Very good. €15.50

2011 Mon P'tit Pithon red (mostly young vine Grenache) – attractive fruity and minty style, fairly simple though. €8.20

2009 Le Pilou (very old Carignan) – intense and concentrated with lush vs crunchy blueberry, black cherry and cassis fruit; has freshness vs weight too on its tasty long finish. Very good although rather dear at €33. 

19 Route d'Estagel, 66600 Calce. Tel/fax: 04 68 38 50 21, pithon.olivier@wanadoo.fr, www.domaineolivierpithon.com.

Roussillon: La Préceptorie de Centernach, St-Arnac

For your pure enjoyment, here are some tasting notes on a few well-shaped white and red, dry & sweet, wines from man of nature Vincent Legrand (pictured right). La Préceptorie covers some 40 ha/100 acres (that's a lot of ploughing) producing mostly Vin de Pays wines in all colours (5700 cases) followed by AOC Roussillon styles and 2000 cases of small bottles of luscious Maury. I tasted these in March 2007 along with Domaine de la Rectorie's (see 'R' under winery A to Z) range (see below, they work together) at their Argeles warehouse and office:

2006 Coume Marie Réserve l'Almandin, Côtes du Roussillon blanc (Grenache Gris Macabeu 14.5%) - barrel sample: milky and juicy with fresh mineral length, the high alcohol and light wood toast aren't very noticeable and should integrate nicely. 87-89
2006 Les Terres Nouvelles Réserve l'Almandin "écrits de lumière", vin de pays Côtes Catalanes blanc (Grenache Gris 13.5%) - barrel sample: delicious flowery white peach aromas with very light creamy tones, fresh bite v power and poise. 88-90
2005 Zoé vin de pays Côtes Catalanes rouge (Syrah 13.5%) - nice juicy black cherry fruit with fragrant spicy edges, attractive full palate v light dry bite. 87-89
2005 Coume Marie, Côtes du Roussillon rouge (14.5%) - richer and more structured but still has fragrant black cherry and spice, quite brawny v tangy fresh fruit. 89-91
2005 Cuvée Aurélie Pereira de Abreu, Maury (Grenache & Carignan 17.5%) - youthful aromas and flavours, shows enticing lush peppery blackberry fruit with lightly savoury leather notes; the alcohol's a bit obvious at the moment but it has attractive sweet texture, bite and finish. 90

Centernach near Maury: 1 Route de Lansac, 66220 St-Arnac. Tel: 04 68 81 02 94 / 06 82 67 04 17, legrandvin@wanadoo.fr. See La Rectorie below for more web contacts. Summer 2009: Vincent Legrand is no longer at La Préceptorie, update to follow...

Roussillon: Château Valmy, Argelès-sur-Mer

The road up to Martine and Bernard Carbonnell's remarkable Bavarian/Disney-esque castle cum winery & hotel is well signposted off the Argelès bypass, but you absolutely could not miss it (even if it was dark and you were wearing sunglasses...). Perched up on a hill and surrounded by neatly terraced cascading vineyards, the Carbonnells have spent a fortune restoring this old family estate. Bernard started by replanting all the vineyards in the 1990s, building a show-piece glass-inner-walled cellar with tasting bar and finally had the peeling château itself renovated. They now offer five sumptuous and well-equipped guest rooms that retain a certain timeless Old World charm; priced from €150 to €350 depending on time of year, size and meal options (it's not open in the winter by the way).
As for the wines, I found them attractive and well-made although a bit over-glossy and lacking substance given the quite high prices they charge (€8 to €16); then again, most of the vines are still young so the wines should gain more depth in time. They currently produce about 70,000 bottles and "need to get to 100K to really be profitable, in terms of the investments made," taking a long-term view like so many who believe in the Roussillon's quality future and have gambled a lot of money on it. The whole set-up is clearly geared to getting numbers of wine tourists to come to them, and why not when you have an extraordinary estate like this in a superb location? And it appears to be paying off: Martine said they now sell around 60% of production on-site, way above the average; and it's a great place for them to entertain their trade customers too.

These wines tasted in March 2007:
2005 Valmy rosé (Syrah Grenache Mourvèdre) – fruity chunky and rounded with quite fresh length; good but looking a little old, look forward to trying the 06. 85
2005 Les Roses Blanches de Valmy (Viognier Marsanne Grenache blanc) – pretty toasty (fermented in oak) but does has nice aromatic apricot notes and creamy full palate too. 85
2004 Côtes du Roussillon rouge (Syrah Grenache Mourvèdre) – attractive creamy blackcurrant and raspberry fruit, soft and ripe with dry bite and subtle finish. 83-85
2004 Le Premier de Valmy, Côtes du Roussillon (Syrah Grenache Mourvèdre) - coconut spice dominates the nose (14 months in oak), quite lush with elegant fruit texture, dry v rounded then tighter finish. Quite good but €16? 87
2004 Valmya Rivesaltes Grenat VDN (Grenache) – enticing blackberry/cherry nose moves on to savoury v dark chocolate and wild fruit flavours; nice balance of tannin texture, sweetness and alcohol. 89
2005 L'Or de Valmy, Muscat de Rivesaltes (Muscat petits grains) – delicious floral honeyed nose, fruity and rich palate with lively finish showing roundness and freshness. 87

Chemin de Valmy, 66700 Argelès-sur-Mer. Tel: 04 68 81 25 70 / 04 68 95 95 25, contact@chateau-valmy.com/ chateau.valmy@tiscali.fr, www.chateau-valmy.com