Manuel Jorel has seven organically farmed hectares, with three more undergoing 'conversion' (a three year monitored period without synthetic chemicals before being officially certified, so to speak; not that I'm implying that organic growers are mad!), around the village of St-Paul lying on the western side of the stunningly raw Fenouillèdes area. Jorel also makes a lovely Maury fortified VDN wine as well as red & white Vins de Pays; probably because they only have some superb old-vine Grenache (red and white varieties) and Carignan and no Syrah (I'm guessing as I haven't been there yet), meaning the wines don't fit silly AOC CDRV rules. Anyway, some of his cuvées have the name of the parcel it came from, so you can't get much more terroir-ist than that. This one was tasted at Millésime Bio wine show 2008 (January 08 Perpignan):
2005 Pétaillat Vin de Pays des Pyrénées Orientales (Grenache) - attractive 'sweet' and rich liquorice and tobacco aromas/flavours with quite firm tannin-ed mouth-feel, lovely finish and style. €10 89-91
Domaine de la Prose
A forgotten plush red (re)discovered from the tasting table at Millésime Bio 2008 organic wine show (Perpignan Jan 08). I didn't get around to following up with the producer on their stand or writing them up until now, six months later, although it isn't in danger of fading away! So 'one to watch' perhaps or 'one to call in on' when next in the area...
2005 Les Cadières Coteaux du Languedoc St-Georges d'Orques (Syrah Grenache Mourvèdre Cinsault Carignan) - ripe and smoky nose moves on to liquorice, raisin and tobacco flavours; grippy tannins v 'sweet' fruit, quite elegant. 88-90 www.laprose.com
Guy Prédal is one of the Roussillon's rapidly swelling band of vocal supporters and practitioners of organic grape growing; Guy controversially although logically suggests that any future EC subsidies to help growers should only be for converting to organics. For more of his views, click on this link and scroll down to: "CRAV - 100 years of protest" (a piece I did for Decanter) or refer to my rather long and serious dissertation on the Roussillon (will be re-published under 'more wine words'). His 10 hectares (25 acres) of vineyards lie on the sparse (in terms of vineyards anyway, this is about as far west as they go in the region) and wild terrain to the west and north of the town of Vinça, where you'll find his cellar.
These wines were sampled at the 2008 Millésime Bio wine show (Jan. 08 Perpignan):
2006 Carignan - nice blackcurrant and cherry fruit with liquorice tones; fresh, tight and medium-bodied finish. 85
2005 L'Alouette Côtes du Roussillon (Grenache Syrah Carignan) - fuller and juicier than above with firm yet rounded mouth-feel, attractive style. 85+
2005 Tradition (Grenache Carignan) - more concentrated than above showing tobacco and liquorice style, lively and elegant v dry textured finish. 87
2005 Prestige (Syrah Carignan Grenache) - aromatic cherry and cassis notes give way to a closed and firm palate, nice tannins though v again that trademark 'freshness' and length. 87-89
2006 Oxo (100% Carignan) - aromatic floral black cherry fruit moves on to taut refreshing mouth-feel, elegant v concentrated style needing a couple of years to express itself. 89-91
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Header image: Château de Flandry, Limoux, Languedoc. Background: Vineyard near Terrats in Les Aspres, Roussillon.
