Roussillon: Domaine Calvet-Thunevin, Maury

Jean-Luc Thunevin needs little introduction (Château Valandraud and other St-Emilion properties); winegrower Jean-Roger Calvet is the local partner in this Maury-based estate and the one who runs it day to day. The Thunevin name has certainly attracted a lot of attention to the domaine (and high prices too) and this area on the whole; and soon you won't be able to miss it arriving in Maury from the Estagel direction, as they're building a huge winery and shop at the village entrance. He, Jean-Roger (a charming down to earth chap by the way) and their American importer (New York's Eric Solomon) have recently purchased a further 10 hectares in the Lesquerde area to the south, bringing the estate to 60 ha/150 acres. They've also set up a merchant company to buy in grapes to boost production, so obviously believe in the region's future. Interesting to note that this very red-focused producer is starting to make a few traditional sweet Vin Doux Naturel wines "to see if it works," JR told me. The following were tasted in the Dom CT cellar (a genuine 'garage' in fact), April 2007.

2004 Cuvée Constance, vin de pays Côtes Catalanes (Grenache Carignan) - lightly leafy, a bit reduced even? Odd slightly sour palate to start, however it ends up quite firmly structured vs almost elegant actually. Needs airing maybe? €6
2004 Les Dentelles, Côtes du Roussillon Villages (mainly old Grenache Carignan) - quite toasty coco oak but less obvious than previous vintages (e.g. 2002), firm Bordeaux style with floral cherry fruit; nice texture of fine spicy tannins, again relatively elegant. €18 87-89
2003 Hugo, Côtes du Roussillon Villages (Grenache Syrah Carignan) - more seductive with juicy liquorice and tobacco fruit, very rich with firm chocolate oak; powerful but not so overblown. €30 88-90
2004 Les Trois Marie, Côtes du Roussillon Villages (mostly Grenache) - rich glob of liquorice, black cherry and lightly oxidised leather; coconut oak layered palate that again finishes a bit too much on the wood tannins, although there is sweet fruit underneath. Priced at a very reasonable €100! 90 perhaps, as a show wine. Admittedly, the oak started to calm down a little on these wines over lunch.

Spring/summer 2009 update: I tasted Jean-Roger's currently available vintages in a rather different setting - the bold new Calvet-Thunevin statement winery, made from massive blocks of sand-coloured Gard stone, is very much operational and has somewhat altered the view on the way in to town! Those additional 10 ha (25 acres) of mostly Syrah and some Carignan mentioned above, planted on granite soils at 400+ metres altitude (1300 feet) near the village of Lesquerde, are now on stream bringing more "cooler-climate" fruit to the blends. "We've also moved to more sorting," Jean-Roger added, "and ageing in larger barrels" (good: hopefully less oaky wines then. And following on from his comments above about doing a Maury VDN style; well, see below for the result (definitely worthwhile)! They'll be launching a dry white wine this year too, so I look forward to trying it...

2005 Cuvée Constance Vin de pays des Côtes Catalanes (Grenache Syrah Carignan 14.5%) - showing some ripe strawberry and liquorice fruit, a bit baked/oxidised though (it was already open, don't know for how long...); firm and dry textured with not bad fruit and punch, lacks a bit of charm. 80-85
2005 Les Dentelles Côtes du Roussillon Villages (Grenache Carignan) - nice gamey edges vs liquorice and spice; powerful firm mouthfeel with subtle oaking (hoorah) adding texture, leaner and tighter on the finish than I thought it would be. 87+
2004 Hugo Côtes du Roussillon Villages (Grenache Carignan Syrah 15%) - again a bit baked on the nose (open), has richer extracted dark fruit with meaty edges vs very firm tannins still; however, its big concentrated mouthful is certainly seductive. 87+
2005 Les trois Marie Côtes du Roussillon Villages (Grenache 16%) - very rich and extracted with quite a lot of chocolate oak, although enticingly lush, peppery and meaty too; big grainy tannins give a solid dry palate but there's a bit of underlying freshness too, and still shows better balance despite its 16% alc. Needs 1-2 years to open up. 88-90
2004 Maury (Grenache 80 grams/litre residual sugar) - attractive fruity vs meaty leathery notes; chunky and grippy mouthfeel vs good sweet fruit with maturing edges. 88+
13 rue Pierre Curie, 66460 Maury. Tel: 04 68 51 05 57, contact@thunevin-calvet.fr, www.thunevin-calvet.fr.

Roussillon: Mas Castello aka Domaine Cachau-Dubournais

David Dubournais ("passionnément vigneron" as it says on his card, zealously so!) and Jean-Pierre Cachau have been at Castello for about three years (2006 was their first vintage as far as I can tell: more info to follow when I go and visit them in situ); a rather sizeable 30-ha "block" (75 acres) up on the Crest in the Espira area (north of the airport between Rivesaltes and Cases-de-Pene), which is more unusual to find quite a large estate like that all in one place (rather than a few parcels in different spots). They make the full range of Roussillons from the usual suspects in the vineyard, reasonably priced from €5 to €14 a bottle, including four Rivesaltes VDN styles (Muscat, Ambré, Tuilé and Grenat), which I didn't try at the Fenouillèdes wine fair in late April 2009 but did these, if you see what I mean:
2007 Folie white (Grenache blanc/Macabeu) - aromatic and lively mineral style, appley with white peach flavours too; zingy fresh finish. Left and stirred on the fine lees for a few months. 85+
2008 white (Grenache blanc/gris/Macabeu) - juicy yeast-leesy notes and texture, attractive tasty style showing a bit of weight and oiliness on the palate vs crisp and gummy. 87
2007 Folie rosé (Grenache Syrah) - pretty intense nose and crisp mouthfeel, turning creamier and weightier on the finish vs nice bite. 85+
2008 rosé (mostly Syrah in barriques) - rounded and powerful vs gummy and intense palate with quite rich red fruit cocktail; a bit of a wow rosé actually. 88
2006 vin de pays red (Grenache Syrah) - appetizing menthol, black cherry and liquorice tones/flavours; a bit of grip too on its nice finish. 87
2007 Côtes du Roussillon red (Grenache Syrah Carignan) - more liquorice and black pepper on the nose; attractive "sweetness" and depth, tasty mouthful with light grip and fresh twist vs smoky leather notes. 89
2006 Côtes du Roussillon Villages (Grenache Syrah Carignan Mourvèdre) - less aromatic, more savoury and "serious"; concentrated dark fruit with more structured and powerful palate / texture. 89+
2006 La Folie red (Carignan Syrah Mourvèdre Grenache) - a tad musty? Some old wood adding texture, although it's much grippier and a touch dried out and extracted; the corky/musty character has perhaps exaggerated this?
2007 La Folie (cask sample, more Syrah than the 06 otherwise blend is similar) - spicy wood upfront on the nose, followed by lush concentrated mouthfeel with black fruits/olives; spicy and lively with big tannins, but it's ripe and rounded too and that chocolate oak should melt into it well. 90
Mas Castello, Route de Vingrau, 66600 Espira-de-l'Agly. Tel: 04 68 64 33 38, domainecachau@orange.fr, domainecachau.creation-website.com.

Roussillon: Domaine Arcadie, Tautavel

Looking at their website, "Arcadie" appears to be taken from 20th Century Provence-based writer Jean Giono; and you could say there's a kind-of creative writer's touch to Agnès & Raphael Graugnard's wines. They originally hail from a winegrowing-family background in the southern Rhone - Agnès cited one of the reasons why they're working towards organic certification is remembering her father being ill after using "conventional" (synthetic) sprays, and "we don't like these nasty products anyway..." And ended up in the raw northern Roussillon because of, like for many young newcomers to the region, its affordable old vineyards in breathtaking natural settings; not that the southern Rhone is exactly ugly! Agnès, who also works as a contract winemaker for some other small domaines, said she "uses minimal sulphur dioxide (in the winery/wines), but I'm not aiming at using none (can be risky)... as long as your hygiene standards in the cellar are good."
Arcadie now comes to just over five hectares (12.5 acres) of pretty plots dotted here and there across the Agly valley and Fenouillèdes areas: see notes below with locations. I tasted these wines with her in the cosy cellar, next to their shop in the village of Tautavel (mostly from vat or barrel unless I don't specify, in which case a finished bottled wine) in March 2009 and a couple more at the Fenouillèdes wine fair in April 2009. By the way, TP3 is their 1975 ex-army truck (it's quite cute actually despite its macho nature!) they use for vineyard work and transporting grapes...

2007 rouge (mostly Syrah from vat, more Grenache will be added) - lovely spicy black cherry, cassis and liquorice notes; quite fresh acidity and subtle dry tannins add bite and length. 87+
2008 Syrah (from Lesquerde & Saint-Arnac, vat) - delicious fruit, similar to above but more black cherries; more structured too with quite fine finish. Yum.
2008 Mourvèdre (vat) - closed nose, very peppery and perfumed black fruit / olive flavours; firm and fresh mouthfeel, long structured finish.
2007 TP3 Côtes du Roussillon - very attractive vibrant black cherry and cassis fruit, spicy vs 'sweet' and pure perfumed vs earthy herby peppery notes; nice lush mouthfeel vs light dry tannins and texture, fruit and refreshing twist on the finish. Elegant and peppery with a bit of depth and appealing dry coating, although a delicious simple pleasure really. €7.50 87-89
2008 TP3 (vat sample: Syrah, Lladoner Pelut & Grenache) - more liquoricey and "black forest gateau" fruit vs again very spicy; enticing ripeness vs firm coating, good length. (Now bottled, €7.50)
2008 Grenache (Tautavel, vat) - very juicy and tasty, 'sweeter' and fuller profile vs those nice tannins again, 'sweet' vs savoury finish.
2008 Grenache & Lladoner (from schist on the Col de la Dona,  the other side of Estagel, and Col de la Bataille, between Estagel and Millas) - gorgeous big spicy nose with lots of ripe fruit, concentrated with thick tannins. Yum, very promising.
2005 Alba Côtes du Roussillon white - a tad oaky / toasty on its own but nice with e.g. baked fish with breadcrumb topping; turning oily with peach and apricot flavours underlined by spicy coconut, nutty creamy oxidising notes too; quite powerful finish, gets nuttier and more buttery after open for a day vs coconut oak and aniseed bite, definitely mature now though. 85+
2006 Arcadie Côtes du Roussillon Villages (Lladoner Pelut, Syrah Grenache Mourvèdre 14.5%) - quite dense looking with attractive ripe black fruits, liquorice and pepper on the nose underlined with background coconut spice and some maturing smoky notes; well-made wine with mix of lush concentrated fruit, grippy grainy lightly coconut texture, 'sweet' dark cherry fruit and spices; punchy mouthfeel with nice dry coating and framework vs peppery blackberry / cherry and liquorice then subtle chocolate / coconut dusting. Still quite tight and fine, needs 1 to 2 years to fully open up yet it's attractively tasty and drinkable now with e.g. a good steak. Next day: more aromatic and juicy vs tight grainy texture then more savoury and supple on the finish. 89-91

2008 Alba white (Grenache gris & Grenache blanc) - very nice spicy aniseed and fennel notes vs milky edges, spicy juicy yeast-leesy flavours and textures with fresh length. Yum. €10 87-89
2007 Arcadie Côtes du Roussillon Villages (blend as 06 above, more or less) - lively blackberry / cherry fruit with hints of black olive; peppery vs lush mouthfeel, firmly structured dry and powerful vs 'sweet' yet meaty fruit. Drinking now although promising enough to keep for a few years (yeah, right...). €10 90+

1 Avenue Jean Badia, 66720 Tautavel. Tel: 04 68 51 27 33 / mobile: 06 76 54 22 49.

www.vinarcadie.com