Roussillon: Domaine de Vénus, St-Paul de Fenouillet

Vénus is owned by "a dozen wine-loving friends" steered by Nathalie Abet in situ, who gradually bought up and brought together parcel after parcel of old vines spread around the rocky elevated windy terrain near St-Paul; as well as planting some new Syrah and Vermentino. Thus the estate climbed from 7 ha/17 acres in 2003 to 13 ha in 2007. I tried the following wines at the Fenouillèdes wine show held in April of that year. By the way, it's now closer to 15 ha (although those young plantings mentioned above haven't quite yet come on stream) over 40 very different plots, which must be hard to coordinate at picking time!
2005 blanc, Vin de pays des Côtes Catalanes (mostly old vine Grenache gris) – quite toasty and rich yet with attractive honeyed fruit overtones and mineral freshness. €11.55 87
2003 rouge, Vin de pays des Côtes Catalanes (Carignan Syrah Grenache) – quite structured v ripe cherry fruit with tobacco tones, fairly powerful and long finish. €6.60 87-89
2004 Côtes du Roussillon (Grenache Syrah Carignan) – a bit reductive or something on the nose, moves on to a tight herbal v liquorice palate, somewhat firm and tart but has underlying 'sweetness' too; closes up, a touch bitter in the end perhaps. €10.55 87+?
2003 Côtes du Roussillon Villages (Grenache Carignan Syrah) – hints of smoky bacon, pretty extracted tannins with light tobacco and sweet plum notes, turning savoury to finish. €11.80 89?

Update spring 2009 tasted at the Fenouillèdes wine fair, late April in Tautavel:
2004 white vin de pays des Côtes Catalanes (Grenache gris/Macabeu) – oily buttery texture and flavours with a tad of background toastiness, although it's attractively hazelnutty too; interesting "old" style. 85+
2006 white vin de pays des Côtes Catalanes (Grenache gris/Macabeu) – creamier toastier and "sweeter" but again has nice nutty maturing tones and weighty vs lively mouthfeel underneath. 85+
2008 rosé - zesty elegant Provence style with rose petal and red fruit notes, zingy finish too. 85+
2007 red vin de pays des Côtes Catalanes (Carignan/Syrah) – attractive blueberry and cassis fruit with spicy liquorice undertones, nice bit of grip and punch on the palate. 85+
2004 Côtes du Roussillon (Grenache Syrah Carignan) – nice developing savoury fruit with tangy herbal edges, dark chocolate and dry bite to finish. 87+
2004 Côtes du Roussillon Villages (Grenache Carignan Syrah) – a touch more wood on the nose and palate but this also gives it more texture and roundness; maturing "sweet & savoury" fruit vs still firm mouthfeel. 87+
2003 - a bit oxidised, extracted and dried out. Oh, well...

13 Avenue Jean Moulin, 66220 St-Paul de Fenouillet. Tel: 04 68 59 18 81, domainedevenus@aliceadsl.fr, www.domainedevenus.com.

Roussillon: Clos Serre Romani, Maury / Rivesaltes

Young couple Laurent and Cylia Pratx joined the seemingly never-ending stream of love-struck newcomers in September 2007 (and long may it continue, I hope), by finding and buying up a few parcels of old vineyards scattered around the now booming village of Maury; the name of one of them was taken to christen their whole 6 ha domaine (15 acres). Laurent's family have been winegrowers "since time immemorial," as it says in the blurb; so they've returned to their roots, type-thing (that surname is suspiciously Catalan-looking), after working for a while in wine in the Rhone Valley. Their cellar and home are in Rivesaltes, hence the dual location and probably a fair bit of driving too!

I tasted the following wines (their first vintage so not all finished examples obviously) with Laurent at the Fenouillèdes wine fair, late April 2009 in Tautavel. They're priced at €7, €10 and €12 respectively. Another one on the "must-see next time in Maury" list...
2008 Providence white (Grenache gris/Grenache blanc/Macabeu) - floral grapey lively and aromatic then more exotic juicy and yeast-leesy; mineral bite vs fair weight and length too. 87
2008 Providence red (Grenache) - lovely pure fruity style with liquorice, violets, pepper and blackberry; turning meatier on the finish with leather tones too. 87
2008 Schistes (Grenache from 3 sites + hint of Carignan) - livelier and richer showing delicious spice and violets; quite concentrated with "chalky" textured tannins, energetic tasty finish. Yum. 89+
2008 Intuition red (the blend might change each year) - something more mineral about it with wild herb notes, bags of blackberry and spice; punchy yet lush vs crunchy and grippy, intense then softens on the finish. Wow. 90-92

8 Rue Ludovic Ville, 66600 Rivesaltes. Tel/Fax: 04 68 50 12 36, laurent@serre-romani.fr, www.serre-romani.fr.

Roussillon: Domaine les Terres de Mallyce, Rasiguères

Domaine les Terres de Mallyce
Corinne Soto describes Terres de Mallyce as an "upper Agly Valley vineyard" in their flier, implying altitude (not surprising around Rasiguères, a good bit south of Maury over the hill and west of Latour) and sloping vines, planted in "schist and granite soils." They're in the process of converting over to fully organic farming, meaning they already are doing it but have to for a bit longer to be officially certified organic. Well-done, another one on the way then. I tried their wines at the, drum roll, Fenouillèdes wine fair in Tautavel back in late April 2009, which are reasonably priced between €5 and €11 a bottle.

2007 In Extremis white vin de pays Côtes Catalanes (mostly Macabeu plus Grenache gris/Grenache blanc/Carignan blanc) - interesting "oxidative" style with deep colour and very hazelnutty, almost rancio character; nutty tangy then fatter mouthfeel. 87+
2008 Felicis rosé (Syrah/Carignan/Grenache vat sample) - lively gummy red fruity little number, juicy and crisp. 83+
2007 Les Huit Côtes du Roussillon (Carignan/Grenache/Syrah) - quite vanilla coated with underlying bright vs dark berry fruits; dry vs juicy spicy texture and finish. 85-87
2007 Pierres de Lune Côtes du Roussillon (95% very old Carignan/5% Syrah) - herbal peppery cassis notes; spicy turning to liquorice on the palate vs firm bite, more structured yet nice "sweet" fruit too. 87-89
2007 Del Amor Côtes du Roussillon (80% Grenache + very old Carignan) - attractive juicy fruit with spicy vs "sweet" tones; firmer punchier mouthfeel finishing with lovely peppery liquorice fruit. 89+
2008 Macabeu vendanges tardives (picked 1st November, 14% and 130g/l residual sugar) - not a finished sample: quite bubblegummy and yeast-leesy at the moment, turning exotic vs wild herb undertones; zingy and fresh bite on the finish vs lush honeyed fruit. Different!

20 bis Rue des Vignes, 66720 Rasiguères.

Tel: 04 68 73 86 37,

corinne.soto@packsurfwifi.com.

Roussillon: La Petite Baigneuse, Maury

I found the following identical blurb about La Petite Baigneuse (named after the painting by Ingres perhaps?) on these two on-line retailers' websites: www.vinnaturel.fr and cave.gustumo.com, who both list some their wines for €11-€12. So, I guess it came from the same source i.e. the producer: "Domaine La Petite Baigneuse has 12.5 ha (30 acres) of vineyard lying in one spot on the highest part of the Maury appellation bordering wild scrubland. Certain plots face different ways but it's all on the same soil: schist. Philippe and Céline Wies (who are from Alsace by the way) set up this estate in 2008 aiming to make wines "as naturally as possible while letting the site express its full potential..." (a bit of a cliché nowadays but rings true enough looking at the end result, see below). I also found their contact details (as I appear to have lost their card!) on this site: remise2009.free.fr, home of some kind of annual "natural wine" event in Nimes. Anyway, I tried their wines, some of them unfinished as 2008 is their first vintage, at the Fenouillèdes wine fair in late April 2009. I'll update this profile when I go and see them...

2008 Grain de Soleil white (Macabeu) - appley "real cider" aromas/flavours with floral honeyed undercurrents; fresh and crisp bite vs a bit of weight on the finish. 85+
2008 Juste Ciel! white (Grenache gris) - more mineral and intense in style; quite structured actually, lively and very long with good depth too. 87+
Plaît-il? rosé - elegant & lightly creamy red fruity style, again has that lively "mineral" length. 85+
2008 Trinquette red vin de pays des Côtes Catalanes (Grenache) - aromatic and floral with cassis and cherry notes; nice grip and dry texture vs ripe peppery fruit. 87
2008 Les Loustics (Grenache & Syrah) - juicier style, attractive and quite straightforward. 80-85
2008 Grand Largue (Lladoner Pelut & Carignan) red Côtes du Roussillon - plenty of enticing juicy spicy fruit, quite lush intense and peppery with solid finish; attractive style. 87+

Route de Lesquerde, 66460 Maury. Tel: 04 68 73 83 25, philippe.wies@orange.fr