Domaine Sol Payré
Didier and Tatiana Rodriguez farm 56 hectares of organic vineyards, which mostly lie between Elne and Ortaffa south of Perpignan heading towards the magnificently moody Albères hills on the Spanish border, as well as a few blocks in the Maury area in the north.
Ivresse des Sens 2023 Côtes Catalanes IGP (13% abv) - 50/50 Viognier and Roussanne. Lovely aromatic and exotic-fruity nose and palate, good depth of fruit and nice lingering freshness too. £17 UK, €10.50 cellar door.
Rosae 2023 Côtes Catalanes IGP (13% abv) - 100% Grenache noir. Juicy fruity and crisp rosé, very appealing although not great value. £17
Vertigo 2021 Côtes Catalanes IGP (14% abv) - Grenache noir from their Maury vineyards. Powerful with a little tannic grip, plenty of lush ripe Grenache fruit though, closes up on the finish; very good. £20, €14.
Memento 2021 Côtes Catalanes IGP (14% abv) - 100% Carignan also from Maury. Not very expressive at first, slowly revealing blueberry fruit with chocolate tones, pretty firmly textured at the moment so best to see if it develops. £22, €16.
Imo Pectore 2022 Côtes du Roussillon Villages Les Aspres (14.5% abv) - 50% Mourvèdre with Carignan and Syrah. Meaty and concentrated, the tannins are foremost at the moment but it has lots of good fruit, needs a bit of time. £22, €16.
Scelerata 2021 Côtes du Roussillon Villages Les Aspres (14% abv) - 25% each Mourvèdre, Grenache, Carignan and Syrah. A touch oaky for my taste, also somewhat firm and closed up although has nicely textured tannins, pretty dense. Again not sure, try it again some time... £25, €19.
Rivesaltes Hors d'Age NV (15.5% abv) - 100% Grenache from 2005-2008 vintages aged for at least five years as an average minimum. Walnuts and toffee on the nose while surprisingly aromatic too, lovely balance of sugar, rich maturing texture and added alcohol. Yum. £46, €39.
Château de l'Ou
This innovative estate winery is based just to the north of Sol Payré on the other side of the village of Montescot, towards the shore of Villeneuve-de-la Raho lake, planted with 26 hectares of vines, which Séverine and Philippe Bourrier purchased in 1998. They also own some well-sited vineyards in the wilder north of the Roussillon, added to the property in 2009 and 2017: 7 ha in Maury, 14 in St-Paul-de-Fenouillet and 7 in Caudiès-de-Fenouillèdes, lying between 300-400 metres altitude. They've been making some classy wines for many years, although these have become rather pricey (of course, I'm sure they don't care what I think).
L'Ove Blanc 2019 Côtes Catalanes IGP (13.5% abv) - 100% Grenache Gris. Rich yeast-lees, peachy fruit and nutty oily notes and rounded texture, very good mature white although dear as I said. £27-£34 UK (importer Hallgarten & Novum): Strictly wine, Corking wines, Wine Republic, The fine wine company, Allaboutwine, Fred's wines, Winesquare. €24.50 cellar door. US $35 (The Princess and the Bear). The next two wines are about the same price available from some of the same stores.
L'Orange de l'Ou 2021 Côtes Catalanes IGP (15.5% abv) - 100% Muscat petits grains. Delicious cocktail of orange fruits, aromatic grapey flavours while really rich and intense with serious bite. Wow, really out-there but accomplished for an orange wine.
L'Ove Rouge 2020 Côtes Catalanes IGP (14.5% abv) - 100% Syrah. Rich dark cherry fruit, powerful with a tasty savoury maturing side yet still structured; very good.
Compartir 2019 Côtes du Roussillon Villages (16% abv) - 50% Grenache with Syrah and Carignan. Dry-scented cedary oak, dense and extracted; impressive but over the top. UK £38-£45 (see stores above plus Great Wines Direct, Just Wines). €35 cellar door.
Mas Bécha
Charles Perez has been making wine organically at his 25 hectare property since 2008, which lies on gently hilly terrain around Nyls near Ponteilla in Les Aspres.
Classique Rouge 2021 Côtes du Roussillon (14.5% abv) - Mostly Syrah with Grenache and Mourvèdre. Tasty fruit underpinned by a little grip of tannin, still slightly closed up on the finish at the time but a good example of its type. UK £17-£19. France €12.
Mas de Lavail
Image above 'Travail du sol à l'interceps' from masdelavail.com.
Tradition 2022 Côtes du Roussillon Villages (15% abv) - 40% each Syrah and Grenache with Carignan and a hint of Mourvèdre. Dark cherry fruit with enticing wild herb notes, big concentrated and punchy, still a little firm and fiery but will be delicious in a year or two. UK £16-£20. France €9.50. Germany €13.
La Tourèze 2022 Maury Sec (14.5% abv) - 75% Grenache with the other three varieties. Very dense and more concentrated still, lots of tasty fruit underneath the grippy tannins at the moment, although this should be fabulous in a few years' time. Excellent. £20
Mas Bécha and Mas de Lavail are also represented by Hallgarten & Novum Wines in the UK, where their wines are stocked by some of the same wine stores mentioned above.
Previous posts from this year's Wines of Roussillon Edinburgh tasting:
Next up, tasting reports on Domaine Bila-Haut (Chapoutier), Bruno Andreu, VICA.
No comments:
Post a Comment