As I write this, Beaujolais is in a flurry. Its first wines of 2025 – the fragrantly juicy Beaujolais Nouveau – are being sent out across the globe ready for the impending (and inevitably raucous) festivities on the third Thursday of November.

And while the folk from Beaujolais are the undeniable overlords of the nouveau party, they aren’t the only players out there dabbling in this vinous fountain of youth.

When you pull back the curtain, you realise there are people all over Europe, and even in the UK, that make their own versions of these new harvest wines.

A long history

Beaujolais Nouveau is merely the best known (modern) example of a much wider tradition of drinking brand new wines soon after harvest.

Nouveau wine, in its simplest terms, is a young wine that is bottled and released almost immediately after harvest. At times they are little more than fermenting must – such as Federweisser in Germany (known as Sturm in Austria).

In Beaujolais it is made with Gamay, which is low in tannins, using carbonic maceration – where the grape begins to ferment within the berry itself, promoting fragrant, perfumed fruit aromas. It is meant to be light in alcohol, juicy and easy going.

As Beaujolais producer Christophe Pacalet says, nouveau is ultimately an unpretentious wine that you can drink while you play pétanque.

Around France

As an inhabitant of southern France, I was intrigued to see whether this area, more famed for its heady reds, was getting on board with the style.

Jean-Philippe Padié of Domaine Padié in Roussillon has been making a nouveau wine since 2019. It was a bit of an accident; he had a plot of Syrah that went through fermentation quickly and cleanly, offering him a delicious rendition of a nouveau style.

Padié now works predominantly with the indigenous variety Lledoner Pelut, which he says gives an even lighter, crunchier wine, with a hint of something maritime from the vineyard’s coastal location.

Similarly, in the cooler northern reaches of the Loire, Joseph Mosse of Domaine Mosse makes a fuschia-coloured wine called Bang Nouveau from a blend of the pink-skinned Grolleau Gris and Gamay.

And while there is an argument that nouveau wines are best made with lighter-skinned varieties, Romain Le Bars in the Rhône Valley proves that this isn’t always the case. His dangerously drinkable Nouveau Nez cuvée is made from Cinsault, Grenache and Carignan.

Traditions old and new

Nouveau wines are popping up across France. However, there are other countries that have a deep-rooted history with this style of wine – Spain, for example.

Specifically in Rioja, where the wines are called cosecheros. Last year saw the launch of the first cosecheros tasting in London, hosted by Ben Llewelyn of UK importer Carte Blanche and writer Tim Atkin MW.

Here producers work with Tempranillo, foot crushing the grapes and using carbonic maceration. Like in Beaujolais, it is a style that is embedded in the culture, despite also falling prey to the tools of mass production such as thermovinification and commercial yeasts.

And while the Spanish perhaps don’t partake in the annual country-wide festivities, the Italians certainly do. Also released in early November, Italy’s answer is vino novello, also made with carbonic maceration and with a host of different grape varieties depending on the region.

Perhaps the most iconic in this mix is the Bardolino Novello from Veneto, which brings much joyous celebration to the shores of Lake Garda.

Sandridge Barton in Devon, UK, has been making its own nouveau wine since 1995. Spurred on by a disruption in Beaujolais supply during the outbreak of mad cow disease, they decided to try their hand at making one themselves.

Intriguingly, their nouveau was – and still is – a white made from the grape Madeleine Angevine (affectionately known as Mad Ange), chosen because it’s their earliest-ripening variety, going from vine to glass in just six weeks. This year spells their first release of a red nouveau made with Pinot Noir and carbonic maceration.

Balfour Winery has also adopted this new wave British tradition with its Essex-grown Pinot Noir Nouveau. Following the stellar conditions of the 2025 vintage, the estate’s head of wine Fergus Elias was keen to show that ‘English Pinot Noir has the ripeness, the fruit and the finesse to stand on its own’.

This is only the second vintage of nouveau, but with such excellent fruit to hand, they’ve made a wine that is ‘playful and purposeful’.

Down with the kill-joys

There are pessimists who want to put down nouveau wines simply as a marketing stunt or something to bolster cash flow. If that is indeed the case, then good on them. Hopefully everyone getting involved is making some much needed cash and shining a light on their region.

But I think it is so much more than that. As Llewelyn says, nouveau wines have historical relevance and value. In Rioja, they show the diversity of their grapes and region, they regulate supply – especially important in a place like Rioja where ageing requirements can extend up to five years – and they give affordable access to quality wines.

Isabel Fernández of Rioja’s Bodega Abeica says that these wines have been part of Rioja’s culture ‘since time immemorial’. Traditionally, they were made to be consumed within 18 months of harvest.

Her family has been making a cosechero wine for four generations, and she believes they can have good longevity and weight, so she uses a parcel of 100-year-old Tempranillo for her cuvée.

Echoing the sentiments of others I spoke to, she says that the crux of making a quality nouveau wine comes down to the quality of the fruit and the stems, especially when working with carbonic maceration and with low intervention cellar methods.

The biggest challenge facing nouveau producers? Poor quality fruit. Because in the end, the joy of nouveau – wherever it’s made – lies in its immediacy. It is a snapshot of a harvest that ultimately takes no prisoners.

Playful frivolity

From conversations with winemakers, it’s clear that these wines are moving into a realm of quality and artisanship. Climate change has brought riper grapes and earlier harvests, and as a result we’re seeing more of these wines made without manipulation – a gradual phasing out of what Jon Bonné, in The New French Wine, calls ‘industrial pop wine’.

For years, the market had grown used to nouveau wines tasting of candied banana and bubblegum – flavours I once assumed were a natural byproduct of carbonic maceration, but which in fact come from a specific yeast strain, 71B, which is no longer used to the same extent as it was in the 1980s and 1990s.

While I am a lover of Beaujolais Nouveau – especially in its newer, more natural iteration – there is even more scope for playful frivolity and experimentation in other regions and countries.

In an industry that can err on the side of stuffy and get bogged down in rules and labels, nouveau is a perfectly imperfect antidote for us to share abundantly and joyously.

Like my friends Greg Lane and Sarah Adamson of Scout Wines in New Zealand said of their Pinot x Pinot (a blend of Noir and Gris) take on a nouveau, they made it for no other reason than enjoyment, ‘to keep the house happy’.

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International Carignan Day is celebrated on the last Thursday of October in appreciation of this once-shunned variety.

According to sommelier Daniel Illsley, things are looking up for the former ‘ugly sister to Grenache and Syrah’. ‘Tasting a good vintage of mature Cariñena is the only epiphany any doubter needs,’ he adds.

Don’t miss the ultimate wine experience – book your tickets now for the Decanter Fine Wine Encounter London 2025

Thought to have originated in Aragón, north-east Spain, Carignan is a late-ripening variety which needs very hot conditions to flourish.

It was – and to a lesser extent, still is – widely planted in the south of France, specifically in the Languedoc and Roussillon, and as a result gained a reputation as a grape for bulk wine.

However, high-quality Carignan comes from old, lower-yielding bush vines, particularly in Spain’s Priorat. The grape performs well there in the famed llicorella soils which have low levels of nutrients and poor water-holding capabilities, forcing the roots to grow deep.

Naturally high in acidity, tannin and colour, Carignan also makes a useful blending partner – often used to complement Syrah, Grenache and Mourvèdre. Some winemakers choose to use carbonic maceration to soften its qualities and promote its fruit-forward characteristics.

Found in many regions of the world it follows that it’s a grape of many names. In Spain it’s known as Cariñena, Samsó (in parts of Catalonia) and Mazuelo (in Rioja), and in Italy as Carignano (and Bovale Grande in Sardinia). In the US it’s referred to as Carignane. It can also be found in Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Mexico, South Africa and Israel, among other places.

In the glass, characteristics depend on methods of course, but good examples may show notes of dark berry fruit, red cherry, herbs, chocolate, earthiness and spice.

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What was once one of the most planted grape varieties in France, Carignan was overtaken by international varieties such as Merlot at the end of the 20th century, but is now enjoying a resurgence.

A grape known by many names including Cariñena, Mazuelo and Samsó in Spain, Carignano in Italy and Carignane in the United States, this red grape variety is characterised by thick-skinned berries and high-yielding vines which can retain acidity, even under the hot Mediterranean sun.

Carignan-based wines have deep colour and express aromas of red fruits like raspberry and spicy notes including cinnamon and pepper. They are often medium-bodied with a high level of austere tannins. Best examples will come from old vines (vieilles vignes) which show more concentration and elegance, either as single varietal wines or blends. Garnacha/Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre are common blending partners.

Scroll down to discover 14 Carignan wines to try from DWWA 2025

It’s likely to find Carignan-based wines coming from Southern France, especially Languedoc-Roussillon, parts of Spain and Sardinia in Italy. It has also grown to some extent in countries such as Argentina, Chile, Israel and South Africa.

At this year’s Decanter World Wine Awards, Spain’s Priorat renditions of this variety continued to impress the experts with Vall Llach, Mas de la Rosa Gran Vinya Classificada 2023 receiving a Best in Show medal. To further underline its quality and potential, judges commented that the ‘purity and finesse of this wine makes a convincing case for Carinyena as the pre-eminent variety for Priorat.’

Chile also saw success with three Gold medals awarded; Italy and France too with a selection of 90+ point varietal wines to seek out.

Carignan Day is held every year on the last Thursday in October. To celebrate, we highlight 14 awarded varietal Carignan wines from DWWA 2025 to try., with more to search at awards.decanter.com

International Carignan Day: 14 awarded wines to celebrate with

Best in Show

Vall Llach, Mas de la Rosa Gran Vinya Classificada, Priorat, Spain 2023

Best in Show, 97 points

Priorat has been almost as successful in our Best in Show pantheon as Barolo – this concrete-aged Carinyena is the region’s sixth laureate. This purity and finesse of this wine makes a convincing case for Carinyena as the pre-eminent variety for Priorat – and, contrariwise, for Priorat as the world’s greatest location for Carignan. It’s also a plaudit for concrete ageing, whether in egg or otherwise. The wine is a dark black-red in colour, and the aromas are less fruity than most; it’s one of those wines which seems to smell as much of a landscape as of fruit. It’s only two years old, yet the ageing has been so successfully managed that it has the seamlessness and harmony of a much older wine. On the palate, it is refined, graceful and shawl-like, full of lingering dark-fruit intensity but counterbalanced by the wine’s unstrenuous cashmere tannin and insinuating, palate-lapping acidity: extraordinary finesse for a variety often regarded as workmanlike elsewhere. Alcohol 15.5%

Chile

Bouchon, Vigno, Maule 2022

Gold, 95 points

Compelling red cherries, raspberries and strawberries waft across the nose and infiltrate the energetic palate with milk chocolate tannins and a lovely floral grip to end. Alc 14%

Casas Patronales, Vigno, Cauquenes, Maule 2022

Gold, 95 points

Striking black cherries, plums and delicate florals brim over the palate with its plump texture, plush tannins and evocative smoky acidity. Long and herbaceous. Alc 14%

Undurraga, Vigno, Maule 2022

Gold, 95 points

Inviting inky black forest fruit and clove spice melds with the impressive oak structure, folds into the black tea tannins and encircles the lengthy finish. Alc 14.5%

Morandé, Vigno, Maule 2022

Silver, 90 points

Ripe forest fruit on the nose with ripe strawberries, red currants, plums and a touch of vanilla. Lively and refreshing. Alc 14%

France

Abbotts & Delaunay, Vieilles Vignes, IGP Pays d’Oc, Languedoc-Roussillon 2023

Silver, 90 points

Aromatic nose, with lifted nuances of blackcurrant, wine gums, blueberries, dried herbs and black pepper. Juicy palate, with well-integrated tannins. Alc 13.5%

Claude Vialade, 100 Ans Mon Amour, IGP Aude, Languedoc-Roussillon 2023

Silver, 90 points

Aromas of spring flowers, cocoa, fresh black berries and touches of leathery and smoky undertones. Velvety palate, vibrant and fruity. Alc 13.5%

Israel

Recanati, Reserve Wild, Jerusalem Hills, Judean Hills 2018

Silver, 93 points

Leafy redberry fruit and sour cherries lead into dense black fruits, spice, mocha complexity, and ripe, silky tannins. Alc 14%

Italy

Santadi, Rocca Rubia, Carignano del Sulcis Riserva, Sardinia 2022

Silver, 91 points

Scents of violets, cherry, raspberry, Mediterranean herbs, very refined with fine dusty tannins and long-lasting with red petals finish. Alc 14.5%

Siddùra, Bàcco, Isola dei Nuraghi, Sardinia 2023

Silver, 91 points

Ripe, juicy wild strawberry, damson and liquorice, with intense and complex notes of spice and dried flowers, framed by velvety tannins. Alc 14.5%

Spain

Celler Masroig, Solà Fred, Montsant 2024

Value Gold, 95 points

Alive with red fruit pastille and floral perfumes, the palate also shows punchy cranberry acidity with a sweep of peppery spice and fresh herbs to end. Characterful and friendly. Alc 13.5%

Altavins, Selecció Carinyena, Terra Alta 2020

Silver, 93 points

Oaky nose with vanilla, cedar and blonde tobacco around a core of plummy fruit. Well rounded, with a silky texture. Alc 14.5%

Maset, Reserva 1777, Penedès 2021

Silver, 93 points

Complex on the nose, with aromas of meat, tobacco, dense blackberries, cedar, black plums and espresso. Energetic and vibrant palate. Alc 14%

Tosalet, Priorat 2019

Silver, 92 points

Notes of raspberry, cherry and sweet spices and hints of wet stone. Savoury and spicy on the palate, textured and elegant. Alc 15%

Search all DWWA 2025 results

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David Williams, Matthew Forster MW and Luis Gamiz tasted 86 wines, with 5 Oustanding and 38 Highly Recommended

Montsant: Panel tasting scores

86 wines tasted

Exceptional 0

Outstanding 5

Highly recommended 38

Recommended 38

Commended 5

Entry criteria: producers and UK agents were invited to submit their current-release still dry (or off-dry) red, white and rosé wines from DO Montsant

No matter how hard you try to ignore it, the question that haunts any tasting of DO Montsant wines is always: ‘How do these wines compare to those of Priorat?’ And the answer will invariably be something along the lines of, ‘better value, but not quite hitting the same heights’.

Founded as a DO in 2001, a year after Priorat was elevated from DO status to DOCa, Monstant almost entirely envelops the more famous region, both of which are set in the rugged hills of southern Catalonia.

Scroll down to see notes and scores of the top-scoring wines from our Montsant tasting

Emerging from the shadows

The reasons for comparison are obvious enough: the two regions share much by way of climate, grape varieties and stylistic approach. Then again, Montsant is much more varied in its soils, elevations (from 50m to 700m), aspects and microclimates.

In other words, while it may have kinship with Priorat, Montsant is – or should be – very much its own thing.

The best of the wines on show in this panel tasting had a distinct character, especially those that managed to avoid, in Luis Gámiz’s words, ‘looking to Priorat as a benchmark’ by eschewing obvious oak.

‘For me, the better reds tended to pull away from oak use, to focus on fruit and give a more energetic result,’ said Matthew Forster MW. ‘There were some quite soupy, middle-of-the-road wines that struggled to marry oak with Garnacha in particular.’

For Gámiz, too, the stars of the tasting were the ‘fresher, lighter and more mineral-driven Garnachas and Cariñenas’. All of us on the panel would certainly have liked to taste more of this style.

The whites also impressed, with the best examples showing ‘real authenticity and verve,’ noted Forster.

Ultimately, this was a tasting of wines of remarkable consistency and character, with just five wines tasted failing to make the 86-point (Recommended) cut. ‘The quality in the region is very good in general,’ concluded Gámiz.

Looking down the list of prices, you’d have to say the value is very good, too. So, what was that about a certain region beginning with P…?

See all the wines from the Montsant tasting

What to eat with Montsant wines, by Fiona Beckett

Montsant, as this tasting illustrates, comes in two guises: lighter, fresher, more mineral styles and more full-bodied wines that are more similar to those of neighbouring Priorat.

The former are generally more versatile – wines, like those featured in our value Spanish Tempranillo tasting, that you could happily drink with tapas but also a good accompaniment for tomato-based sauces and grilled meats and vegetables, so good wines to crack open with a barbecue.

You could also pair this style with a tagine or a paella (it would go well with the authentic Valencian style with chicken and/or rabbit).

More full-bodied styles are the ones you would want to enjoy with slow-braised ox cheek, venison, wild boar or other hearty stews: classic cold-weather drinking.

The relatively small number of whites, which are mainly based on white Garnacha and Macabeo, are a natural match for robust seafood dishes such as grilled or roast hake, octopus, dishes with salt cod or with punchily seasoned salads that might well include olives, capers and artichokes.

Montsant panel tasting scores

Wines were tasted blind

The judges

David Williams is wine correspondent for The Observer, a regular contributor to Decanter on all things Spanish, and a widely published wine writer, author and competition judge

Matthew Forster MW is an independent wine consultant and education specialist, and founder of The Wine Partnership. A former director at the Wine & Spirit Education Trust, he has a particular passion for the food and wine cultures of Spain, Portugal and South America

Luis Gamiz is business and product development manager and Spanish wine buyer at Indigo Wine. He has extensive experience in the wine industry, having previously held positions at Alliance Wine, The Knotted Vine and Vinoteca

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Alvaro Palacios, L’Ermita Gran Vinya Classificada, Priorat

First vintage: 1993

It’s difficult to be indifferent to the trademark purity of fruit, chiselled tannins and intense minerality of L’Ermita.

Hailing from the eponymous 1.44ha plot in Gratallops, in the heart of Priorat, the wine quickly became Alvaro Palacios’ most sought-after, following its first release in 1993, four years after the star winemaker started his namesake project in the Catalonian region.

See which must-try vintage of L’Ermita Ines recommends below

It’s one of the wines that rebuilt the image of Priorat, repositioning it as a region where heroic viticulture meets fine wine production. Unapologetically priced high from the outset, it instilled a new sense of confidence and possibility among the region’s new wave of producers.

Palacios came upon and purchased L’Ermita shortly before the inaugural vintage. The chapel (ermita) that overlooks the plot provided obvious, and poetic, branding.

Sitting between 350m and 430m, ‘it’s a vineyard touched by a special gift, where the schist and quartz north-facing plots lend Garnacha a transcendent emotional beauty’, Palacios says. The wine itself has gone through significant stylistic changes over the years.

Between 1993 and 2004, the final blend included 25% of Cabernet Sauvignon from another vineyard; since then, L’Ermita – awarded Gran Vinya Classificada status in 2017 – is made exclusively with the Garnacha and interspersed Cariñena and white grapes (Garnacha Blanca, Macabeo and Pedro Ximénez) planted within its perimeter in 1910 and 1939 (Palacios also planted some vines in 1996-1997).

This reflects an ever-sharper awareness of what makes L’Ermita and Priorat special – and collectible.

‘The land has taught us how to respect, with humility, the true historical legacy of Priorat,’ Palacios explains. ‘Today, we work with indigenous varieties, respecting local traditions, so as to prevail with the typicity and authenticity of what once was.’

The wine to try before you die

Alvaro Palacios, L’Ermita Gran Vinya Classificada, Priorat 2021 – 98pts

£700 (ib) – £1,160 Christopher Keiller, Crop & Vine, Cru, Ideal Wine Co, Millésima, VinQuinn US$1,300-$1,640 Benchmark, Naples Fine Wine, Pogo’s, Zachys

Garnacha and Cariñena with a small splash of white varieties; native-yeast fermented with 55% whole bunches, then aged in French oak foudres for 12 months. Refined, nuanced nose with finely etched aromas of plums, dried violets, black cherries and brambles.

Austere, unapologetic minerality on the palate supports the crunchy blueberry, plum and blackcurrant fruit. A fine layer of red apple peel and vermouth adds vibrancy and energy throughout.

An intriguing touch of tree bark adds a pleasant, earthy pull. Still coiled and timid, this will evolve beautifully for years to come.

Drink: 2025-2050 Alcohol: 14%

Spanish Icons: Alvaro Palacios, L’Ermita

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Wine rarely comes from ugly places, but few wine regions can compete with the beauty of Priorat, southwest of Barcelona. As you head inland from the coastal city of Tarragona – a particularly beautiful train journey that winds through the hills – the land starts to rise and the population becomes notably sparse.

There are barely 2,200ha under vine here – a mere 30th of the size of Rioja, according to that region’s annual reporting.

Priorat’s vineyards are scattered across the rugged, rolling terrain, at varying aspects and elevations; there are no vast swathes of vineyards to announce your arrival here. Instead, the sheer harshness of the land is apparent, with layers of rocky schist and steep vineyard slopes that seem to defy the commercial realities of wine production.

This is not a place for the faint-hearted.

Scroll down to see notes and scores for 10 magnificent wines from Priorat

A star is born

Like much of Spain, Priorat can trace its winemaking roots back to ancient times, but the region’s modern winemaking history began later than in its famous Iberian counterparts.

Scala Dei began making wine commercially in 1974, but its potential wasn’t really identified for another decade, when René Barbier III arrived in the region, along with a wave of like-minded winemaking friends. (Barbier, the founder in 1979 of respected producer Clos Mogador, trained and worked in Bordeaux and Burgundy, among others, but is from a long-established winemaking family based on the Catalan coast.)

The style of wine that most still associate with Priorat was created during the 10 years that followed. The old, low-yielding vineyards that were salvaged produced concentrated, powerful wines – very much in vogue at the time – propelling the region to stardom. Critics, particularly from the US, were quick to praise the wines; high point-scores followed.

The Priorat region grew rapidly with investment being made and new wineries opening, including from larger players such as Penedès-based Familia Torres.

Powering down

Grape (and wine) prices are naturally on the higher side here; due to the low planting density, vine age and dry conditions, grape production is about quality not quantity. For the 2023 harvest, selling prices for grapes started at around €1.60/ kg but rose far higher for old vines and grapes such as Carinyena (Cariñena/Carignan), according to Clos Pachem head winemaker Josep Riba Comaposada.

To compare to Spain’s best-known region, in a report on his website in October 2023, Decanter contributor Tim Atkin MW noted that: ‘Against the backdrop of a large and extremely difficult 2023 harvest… Rioja’s grape prices remain unsustainably low at between €0.50 and €1.20 per kilo.’

For Priorat, scarcity, fame and hype led to it becoming one of, if not the most expensive wine region in Spain.

By the mid-2000s, Priorat was at the height of its power – both commercially and in the glass. Expensive new oak was de rigueur, 15% alcohol in a wine was typical, and it was common to see international grape varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah blended with the native Garnatxa (Garnacha/Grenache) and Carinyena (Cariñena/Carignan).

The focus was very much on big, bold red wines; the few white wines being made were typically also big, powerful and oaky.

Yet for all the success of the region, some argued that this style of wine was becoming somewhat one-dimensional and alienating critics who valued elegance and transparency. A quiet revolution got underway, as a new generation of winemakers came into the region and set about telling the story of a different Priorat.

Leading the charge

‘Generational change is always hard,’ explains Sara Pérez, revolutionary winemaker and now owner of Mas Martinet, one of the original ‘Gang of Five’ wineries (together with Clos de l’Obac, Clos Dofí [subsequently Finca Dofí], Clos Erasmus and Barbier’s Clos Mogador) that established the region in the late 1980s. ‘A lot of people criticise my wines as being atypical, but what is Priorat? I think we’re only just beginning to really discover that.’

Pérez took over the winery from her father José Luis Pérez Ovejero in the late-1990s, but it wasn’t until the early 2000s that she started to put her own ideas into practice, looking at higher-elevation plantings and a fresher, lighter style of wine. ‘For me, Priorat is a place, not a defined style; it should have many different faces,’ she says.

Her single-vineyard wines Camí Pesseroles and Els Escurçons are planted at elevations typically high for the region (300m-400m and 600m respectively; vines at Scala Dei range from 400m to 800m, among the region’s highest). Els Escurçons was badly affected by a fire in 2015 and the few bottles made in that vintage proudly displayed a phoenix on the label.

Pure-fruited, energetic and so light on their feet, these are remarkably different from how a ‘classic’ Priorat is still described in textbooks.

The limits and beyond

‘For me, wine is about freshness and life,’ explains Dominik Huber, owner and winemaker at the celebrated Terroir al Límit in Torroja del Priorat. ‘I want a wine that I can come back to again and again, not one that I can only drink one glass of.’

Huber, originally from Bavaria in southern Germany, might be the most extreme of this next generation of Priorat winemakers. His team are often the first to begin the harvest, aiming for lower alcohol and higher natural acidity; vinification is almost exclusively in concrete tanks.

Al Límit means ‘at the limit’ and it’s very fitting; many of its red wines sit at 13.5% alcohol, the lowest permitted by the region’s regulations.

‘It just shows that not everyone is on-board yet with the new direction,’ adds Huber. ‘In 2021, many wines from the region fell below this threshold due to the cooler, wetter weather. Often these were very good wines, but they weren’t acceptable according to the rules of DOQ Priorat, so were declassified.’

Huber’s wife Tatjana also makes superb wines in a similar style under the Coreografia label (Garnatxa-based, red and clarete-style rosé blends, and the Pas de Deux Garnatxa-Carinyena red) in Montsant, the DO region that forms an almost-complete ring effectively surrounding Priorat.

‘We eat a lot of lighter, fresher styles of food and so our wines are also a reflection of what we consume them with,’ comments Huber.

Pérez and Huber both learned their trade at Mas Martinet; Pérez as the next generation of the family to run the winery and Huber as a student of wine. It was at Mas Martinet that Huber first met South African winemaker Eben Sadie, with whom he first created Terroir al Límit in 2001, using fruit purchased from the Pérez family (Sadie has since moved back to Swartland to focus on his own project).

It’s worth noting that both Mas Martinet and Terroir al Límit use an element of reductive winemaking for added tension in the wines.

‘Heavy reductive characters aren’t the goal,’ clarifies Huber, ‘but for me, a little just adds an edge that is very attractive.’

This little extra zip, along with the incredible detail of the wines, does feel very natural. Nowhere is this more evident than in Terroir al Límit’s flagship-range wine Les Manyes, the most remarkable expression of Garnatxa Peluda (the rare, downy-leaved variant of the variety) that I have ever tasted – 100% varietal, grown at 800m, whole cluster-fermented then aged eight months in cement tanks.

Exploring diversity

A significant development in Priorat is an increase in white wine production. Despite the region’s warm and dry climate, the white wines have incredible aromatic precision and a naturally high level of acidity, courtesy of the stony schist soils and pronounced diurnal temperature range.

Plantings are led by Garnatxa Blanca, Macabeo and Pedro Ximénez, and together account for less than 10% of total production in the region, though this is growing at a rapid rate.

René Barbier IV (born in 1973 in Nancy in France, home to his mother, Isabelle Meyer) is now at the wheel of Clos Mogador, the winery – one of the most celebrated in the region – founded by his father.

‘Priorat has always been a red wine region,’ he explains, ‘but with the revival of brisat (skin contact) methods, earlier harvests and a better understanding of what makes Priorat unique, I can see our own production ending up at 50:50 between red and white wines.’

Clos Mogador’s Nelin has long been one of the most emblematic white wines of the region. A complex blend based on Garnatxa Blanca and Macabeo, it has taken on new life under Barbier Jr’s leadership – it’s fresher and more driven, yet retains its traditional punch and texture.

Another, widely supported change is the renewed focus on indigenous varieties. Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon were planted in the 1980s and ’90s to appeal to the international market, but the high temperatures and lack of water proved less than ideal conditions for these varieties to thrive.

Even Syrah needs certain microclimates to really grow well in Priorat, and few old vineyards of the variety exist.

Embracing change

Many winemakers have taken the opportunity to top-graft [onto existing rootstock] to indigenous varieties, often in fairly high-profile vineyards.

‘Manyetes [the acclaimed single vineyard in Gratallops] used to be around 30% Cabernet Sauvignon,’ explains Barbier Jr, ‘but the rising temperatures cooked the grapes to a crisp. Only Carinyena can really survive in harsh conditions like this, so we have shifted over the years.’

Even commercial giants such as Alvaro Palacios have increased the portion of Garnatxa in their wines, increasing year by year and replacing international varieties.

‘Carinyena and Garnatxa only really show themselves after 15-20 years in the vineyard,’ explains Oriol Castells, the general manager of Alvaro Palacios in Priorat, ‘so it is important to begin planting them now.’

Despite inevitable friction as styles and ideas change, the new direction for Priorat is clearly being met with enthusiasm. Out in the trade, sommeliers in major wine cities such as Tokyo, New York, London and Copenhagen have started to list the wines with more frequency, particularly those made in a more minimal-intervention style.

More sustainable viticultural methods, such as at the biodynamic Nin-Ortiz, are attracting new buyers and drinkers who have previously avoided the weight and power of Priorat. The perception of the region in the market is evolving.

The true beauty of Priorat is its landscape. The old vineyards, the steep slopes, the dry river beds, shrubs, forests and mountains together create a special place in which to make wine – almost as if Portugal’s Douro valley has a long-lost brother on the other side of the Iberian peninsula.

The wines that reflect this unique sense of place are likely to thrive, and that is certainly the direction in which the best winemakers in Priorat are headed.

Priorat renewal: Kerr’s pick of 10 from the DOQ’s new wave

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In 1998, I won a scholarship for my results in the WSET diploma exam. The prize was an excellent – and looking back, formative – self-drive tour to wineries right across northern Spain, finishing in Barcelona.

I can still recall the discussion with the organiser. He said: ‘There is a place you could visit on this trip, it’s called Priorat. But it’s all a bit new and difficult to get to. I don’t recommend it.’

Instead, I finished the journey with a terrific evening at FC Barcelona’s Camp Nou stadium.

Scroll down to see notes and scores for seven wines from the great Alvaro Palacios

From Priorat to the world

The football seemed sufficient reward; I didn’t realise until much later what I had missed. When I finally made it to Priorat, I was lucky enough to have as my first stop a visit to Alvaro Palacios, the man who opened my eyes to this unique region.

He had been part of the ‘Gang of Five’ (along with René Barbier, Carles Pastrana, Josep Lluís Pérez and Daphne Glorian) who, from 1989, made the first wines in the revival of this isolated, impoverished region, and who all went on to make names both for themselves and for Priorat.

I remember Alvaro (he’s one of those people the world talks about in firstname terms – a bit like ‘Nigella’ Lawson to home cooks) talked about the mystic, magical spirit of the place. It was unusual.

As DWWA judge Amaya Cervera, who runs the award-winning bilingual website Spanish Wine Lover, told me: ‘When he talks about wines, he hardly uses any technical terms. He prefers to express himself in a more spiritual, almost poetic way.’

Alvaro Palacios, what and where: the facts

Alvaro Palacios Gratallops, DOQ/DOCa Priorat

Total vineyard area: 35ha

Wines produced: L’Ermita GVC, Finca Dofí VC, Les Aubaguetes GVC, La Baixada VC, Gratallops VV, Les Terrasses, Camins del Priorat

Descendientes de J Palacios Corullón, DO Bierzo

Total vineyard area: 47ha

Wines produced: La Faraona VP, Las Lamas VP, Al Chelo VP, Moncerbal VP, Valdafoz VP, Villa de Corullón VV, Pétalos Palacios Remondo Alfaro, DOCa Rioja Total vineyard area 100ha Wines produced Propiedad, Finca La Montesa, Plácet de Valtomelloso, Valdelareina

Alvaro Palacios Alfaro, DOCa Rioja

Total vineyard area: 10ha

Wines produced: Quiñón de Valmira VS

Key

GVC: Gran Vinya Classificada

VC: Vinya Classificada

VP: Vino de Paraje

VV: Vino de Vila/Villa

VM: Vino de Municipio

VS: Viñedo Singular

(Bierzo DO has also introduced Viña Clasificada and Gran Viña Clasificada classifications, with the first VC wines due to be released soon)

Alvaro trained in France and worked under Jean-Pierre Moueix at Petrus in Pomerol. He returned with a clear vision. ‘My time in France with fine wine made me believe that Spain had the same qualities,’ he says.

‘Wine is an element of every ritual: social, cultural, religious. A great wine is not fabricated – it reflects centuries of history, tradition. That’s what I look for in a classic fine wine.’

Alvaro is one of nine children born (in Alfaro in March 1964) to the owners of Rioja’s Palacios Remondo. Rather than returning from France to the safety of his family’s estate, however, he forged a path of his own.

His single-mindedness has led him to raise to international renown the reputations of three denominations: first Priorat, then Bierzo and finally Rioja Oriental. What was the hardest part?

‘I suppose the beginning in Priorat. That was economically difficult. But I saw clearly that it would be a success. The stars were aligned: Spain was opening up, my generation could travel, a global market was available to us.’

Mannie Berk, founder of California-based The Rare Wine Co, was one of the guests at Alvaro’s 60th birthday party at Descendientes de J Palacios, the Bierzo winery, earlier this year, an event also celebrating 25 years of the Bierzo project and the arrival of Alvaro’s daughter Lola to the business.

Berk remembers: ‘In 1998, a very prominent collector called me and asked if I had heard of Alvaro Palacios. I hadn’t, because he was completely off the radar in the US then. I was on my way to Spain so I faxed Alvaro to see if we could meet – and it was one of those meetings you never forget.

‘He was so charismatic. By the time lunch finished, I’d asked if I could be his US importer.’

An icon is born

Initially, Alvaro had been guided to Priorat by René Barbier. ‘I was looking for a mystic, monastic place, and Priorat made such a strong impression on me.’ Alvaro was the youngest of the Gang of Five.

His first wine was Clos Dofí, after his own nickname (dofí means ‘dolphin’ in Catalan). That wine is known today as Finca Dofí (see recommendations, below). The first vintage of his top wine L’Ermita was 1993 – it made his name and shone an international spotlight on Priorat. Alvaro had purchased a tiny vineyard, planted mainly to Garnacha, of schist and quartz, steep and rocky at 350m-430m, and topped by a shrine or ermita: the essence of the mysticism and history he seeks.

What has added to the L’Ermita legend is that he priced it unusually high for the then-unknown region, and the wine was received with electric excitement. Alvaro had a point to make, and the market was ready for icon wines and icon prices.

Terroir-driven expansion

Alvaro’s next project was Bierzo. As with Priorat, he says: ‘I had a vision for Bierzo – I saw that it would take us 10 years, and it did.’ His nephew Ricardo Pérez (pictured, above), with whom Alvaro partnered to get Descendientes de J Palacios off the ground, had found an exceptional terroir there.

They make a great pair: where Alvaro is all about passionate intensity, Pérez appears more laid-back. Pérez is the one who has driven the introduction of biodynamics, and who, together with Alvaro, has done detailed work to create the ‘grand cru’ pyramid-type classification structures – from village to single-vineyard wines – that now exist in Priorat and Bierzo.

The third, and largest, of the three wineries is the original family business in Alfaro, Rioja, in what was historically the less-regarded Rioja Baja sub-region. It’s called Rioja Oriental (‘eastern’) now, and Alvaro’s return in 1999 to manage and develop Palacios Remondo has raised the sub-region’s reputation, while at the same time restoring the prestige of the Garnacha variety.

‘His return to Rioja,’ confirms Cervera, ‘and his commitment to Garnacha are a milestone, and he never hesitates to set a high price, such is the confidence he has in the product and in his ability to communicate and sell it.’

Where Alvaro leads, others have followed. What’s interesting, though, is that when Rioja decided to introduce a – much-debated – single-vineyard category (as of the 2017 vintage), a number of producers didn’t join up, but Alvaro did, putting his top-of-the-range Quiñón de Valmira, an exceptional Garnacha, in the Viñedo Singular category.

Personal commitment

For a global brand owner, Alvaro runs a tight ship. There are few of the layers typical of a luxury business separating him and the outside world. Nor is there a website laden with technical details.

‘We have no salespeople: Isabel [Palacios, no relation] is in touch with all our markets,’ explains Alvaro. ‘We [Ricardo and I, and now Lola] like to make great wine and communicate it ourselves. We do the travelling. It’s a 24/7 job.’

‘He’s the quintessential example of someone who runs their company as a personal business,’ says Berk. ‘With these wines you believe in the people as much as the wines themselves – it’s their magnetism.’ Catriona Felstead MW, senior buyer at Berry Bros & Rudd, agrees: ‘You cannot be in a room with him without being inspired.’

Felstead also highlights his exuberance and love of music, especially flamenco. ‘Lola has inherited that. She shares his passion and the joy of celebrating Spanish culture,’ she says.

Cervera agrees: ‘Alvaro has overwhelming energy and personality.’ He may come across as passionate, sensitive, romantic (his own adjectives), but he scrutinises everything from tasting books to glasses.

Securing the future

Alvaro has made a remarkable contribution to Spain and its reputation in wine. 2024 marks the start of a new stage. What will happen now that Lola has joined? ‘She is understanding the complexity of making wine in three bodegas and discovering the humility that comes with it,’ explains Alvaro. ‘She is learning that from her father and her cousin.’

Is Lola going to have her own opportunities moving forward? ‘We are planting in Rioja, and that will be a project for her, but she is always thinking about other wine regions, too.’

Still, is it possible for Lola to take on what Alvaro began? Berk is full of optimism: ‘It’s a tough act to follow, but she’s dynamic. I think she is going to be sensational. And she has the privilege of being able to work with Alvaro Palacios for several decades.’

Northern Spain, Alvaro style: Seven exemplary wines

Wines were tasted en primeur in spring 2024, except for the 2021 Finca La Montesa, which was a new release

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A common charge levelled against the French wine industry is its restrictive appellation legislation. Though drawn up with good intentions, it can indeed cramp winemakers’ creativity.

How freeing it must be therefore to make wine in countries like Australia, unhindered by such bureaucracy. But the local market can also have a constraining influence on wine styles – many drinkers have specific notions about exactly what they want from established classics such as Barossa Shiraz.

Scroll down for 20 scintillating red Rhône varieties from Australia

When it comes to lesser-known varieties, there is more space to experiment. ‘People are much more inclined to play around in the cellar with Grenache than Shiraz,’ says Jack Scholz of The Willows Vineyard in the Barossa Valley, which is why there’s been such a dramatic evolution in the style of this Southern Rhône staple over the past 10 years.

Not just in Barossa, but throughout South Australia and beyond.

Given their suitability to hot climates, it’s puzzling that other red Rhône varieties never took off like Shiraz. But now that does seem to be happening – mainly Grenache at the moment, but there’s also growing interest in Mourvèdre, Cinsault and Carignan.

The Barossa Grenache renaissance

Until recently, much Australian Grenache resembled an alcoholic fruit soup. But there’s a burgeoning contemporary expression that makes this variety the most exciting in the country. If you haven’t tried any for a while, this is the time to revisit it.

So what’s changed? ‘I got sick of drinking those bigger, heavier wines’ says Jason Schwarz of the Schwarz Wine Co, who made his first Grenache in 2002. Back then, he would pick very ripe, when the grapes were starting to shrivel. He’d destem the crop and age the wine for two years in 300-litre barrels.

Today, his Meta Grenache uses 80% whole bunch to bring brightness, freshness and ‘perceived acidity’, he says. He picks around two weeks earlier now, and the winemaking is gentler, using indigenous yeasts.

Instead of seven days maceration, he opts for three to four weeks and he uses larger format barrels, bottling after 10 months to capture the grape’s natural perfume. The result is balanced, drinkable and delicious.

Barossa Valley is home to the oldest Grenache vines in the world, dating back to the 1840s. Though planted a little all over the region, there’s an outcrop of sand from Light Pass to Vine Vale on the border with the Eden Valley that’s become a hotspot for this new style, including The Willows, Schwarz Wine Co, Vinya Vella, Spinifex, Ollin and Cirillo.

Elsewhere in Barossa, this modern version is favoured by Alkina, Geyer Wine Co, Yelland & Papps and Tscharke. For a fuller, more generous style, look to Charles Melton, Hayes Family Wines, John Duval, Tim Smith and Turkey Flat.

The grand cru of McLaren Vale

McLaren Vale is closer to the sea than Barossa and it’s not quite as hot. There are some extraordinary Grenache-based wines being produced here too, in a perfumed, red-fruited, slightly lighter style.

Blewitt Springs in the north-east of the region needs to be on your radar. It’s the source of some of the greatest Grenaches in the country. Yangarra’s High Sands for example is sourced from this Australian grand cru.

Walking here feels like crossing a beach dune, and although it’s just 15km from the sea, these soils don’t have a marine origin – it’s wind-blown loess over ironstone.

Yangarra’s winemaker Peter Fraser says that Grenache was originally planted here for its drought tolerance. He adds that few other crops would successfully grow in these sandy soils, which means that today there’s a proliferation of very old vines.

He describes the wines from this particular site as giving red and blue rather than black fruit flavours, and a brighter, more aromatic style.

Look out for McLaren Vale Grenaches by Bekkers, Aphelion, d’Arenberg, Ministry of Clouds, SC Pannell, Thistledown, MMAD, Bondar, Samson Tall, Brash Higgins, Gentle Folk, Sherrah and Varney Wines.

New varieties, further afield

Though more famous for its Riesling, Clare Valley is another South Australian region with some gnarly old Grenache. Thanks to the big difference between the hot days and cool nights here, the wines have an elegance and spicy/fragrant allure.

Sam Barry of Jim Barry Wines says that historically Grenache was always the cheapest variety to buy from growers. ‘It used to have that stigma of being a variety for fortified wine,’ he explains. Now it’s the most expensive.

He’s just bought two old vineyards in Clare, one dating to 1938, the other to 1954. Both have a spicy note akin to paprika or Szechuan pepper, and first vintages are highly promising.

Kilikanoon is another believer in Rhône varieties in Clare Valley. It makes Grenache, Shiraz and some excellent Mourvèdre, sometimes known locally as Mataro. The style in South Australia is different to Bandol or Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

It tends to be less dark and gruff than the French style, more polished and filigree. Sussex Squire is another good producer in Clare. In Barossa, try Mourvèdre from Hayes Family Wines, Hewitson or Soul Growers; in McLaren Vale, there’s Rudderless, Kay Brothers and Chalk Hill.

It’s still early days for other red Rhône varieties in Australia, but Brad Hickey of Brash Higgins proves they have potential.

‘Rhône varieties have become really interesting players,’ he says. ‘We’ve had huge amounts of luck with Cinsault, Carignan and Mourvèdre.’

His pure Cinsault cuvée Cins is reminiscent of cult west bank Southern Rhônes such as Domaine L’Anglore.

Back to blends

Belinda van Eyssen (below) is winemaker for The Cutting in Barossa, but she previously lived and worked in South Africa. She also makes an excellent Cinsault, but she points out that although Australia might be making very good varietal wines from Rhône grapes, ‘blends haven’t really made it here’.

The GSM – a blend of Grenache, Shiraz and Mourvèdre – was popular for a while, but now it’s not quite as fashionable. One benefit of blends is that they put the spotlight on place rather than the flavour profile of a specific grape.

It was partly blends that led to South Africa’s recent wine renaissance. Will the same thing happen in Australia?

It comes back to the local market – if Australian wine lovers are turned off by blends, then they’ll never succeed. That hasn’t stopped Adelina in Clare Valley though, which has won praise for its Estate Introspect, a field blend of Shiraz, Grenache, Mourvèdre, Ugni Blanc, Roussanne and Carignan.

As local winemakers master these characterful grapes, I hope they are inspired to blend them as well as bottling varietal wines. Whatever your favourite grape variety, it’s always good to find creativity and originality in your glass.

Top 20 Australian wines made from red Rhône varieties

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According to Antoine Lespès, research and development manager at Domaine Lafage just outside Perpignan, the average rainfall at this Roussillon estate between 2010 and 2023 was just 550mm per year. These last few years have been particularly dry: in 2021 and 2022 there was 340mm. In 2023, just 240mm – ‘like Marrakesh,’ says Lespès.

Thankfully, Roussillon has a natural defence against drought: 50% of the region’s vines are over 50 years old. Old vines with deep, well-established root systems pump water from below the ground, instead of relying exclusively on that which falls from the sky. And this is just one advantage of having plenty of venerable old plants.

Scroll down to see notes and scores for 20 old vine wines to try

Stubborn and resilient

Mas Llossanes is located on the western edge of Roussillon; with vineyards ascending to 700m altitude, it’s one of the highest estates in France. Owner Dominique Génot has some vines aged up to 80 years old, and he says ‘resilience is their number one advantage.’ In drought years, it tends to be older vines that perform the strongest.

He adds that ‘the production is much more stable – the same level of quality and quantity’ from year to year. Old vines are also less likely to suffer from disease as they produce smaller, looser, better ventilated bunches.

Small bunches and little berries make for concentrated wines – a greater proportion of skins to juice means more colour and more tannin. So wines made from old vines can be particularly powerful and long-lived.

The drawback is that gnarly old trunks are expensive to work and maintain, requiring dedicated manual work and attention. ‘Old vines are like stubborn old men,’ says Benoît Danjou, co-owner of Domaine Danjou-Banessy in Espira-de-l’Agly, ‘they give what they want’ and can be difficult to manage.

They also produce smaller yields – meaning either that growers make less income, or that we as consumers have to pay a premium.

Better wine?

If the wines are better, then most of us are happy to pay a little extra. But do older vines really produce better wine? Concentration is not always a positive – particularly if a style of wine is already dense and muscular. A little fluidity and juice can be useful in creating drinkability and balance.

In fact, not all growers favour old vines. Hervé Bizeul of Domaine du Clos des Fées in Vingrau uses relatively young vines for his top cuvée Le Clos de Fées, while his oldest vines (50 to 100 years old) go into his more affordable Vieilles Vignes bottling.

Looking outside the region, one of the greatest winemakers of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Henri Bonneau, preferred vines of around 30 years old – when they got much older, he’d pull them out and replant. And Troy van Dulken, vineyard manager at Kilikanoon in Clare Valley, says ‘once a vineyard is at 15 years old, I think it’s at its peak.’

Van Dulken points out that some cultivars age better than others. Syrah and Grenache can live to a ripe old age, whereas he’s more likely to pull out Cabernet Sauvignon at 30 to 40 years old. Carignan is another variety that can age impressively. Domaine du Lendemain in Roussillon has some pre-phylloxera vines planted in 1880 that are still producing fruit.

The taste test

There’s undoubtedly something special about drinking bottles produced from such ancient plants – like drinking very old vintages, there’s a feeling of being closer to history. But can we distinguish between young and old vine cuvées by taste alone?

There’s certainly no identifiable flavour as such. But there is often a sense of depth, resonance and vinosity with wines drawn from old vines. Rather like organic and biodynamic certification, old vines are ‘a sign of quality – but not a guarantee,’ to quote Bizeul.

‘A young asshole will become an old asshole,’ he says; just because a vine is old doesn’t make it good. But if a plant has survived for a century, it suggests that the wine it makes is special enough to have warranted its long-term cultivation and nurturing. Otherwise it would have been pulled out long ago.

These old warriors have seen many changes in Roussillon. The rise and fall of aperitifs like Byrrh, of sweet Muscats, of vins doux naturels, of Parkerised reds… let’s hope they can survive the climate turmoil of the 21st century.

20 old vine wines to try:

The wines below are made from vines at least 60 years old. Wines are listed by style then score.

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The 160km drive from Barcelona to the French border via Girona takes little more than 90 minutes. Driving up the efficient and clinical motorway, you’d never know you were passing through one of the most rugged, individual and below-the-radar wine regions in Spain: Empordà.

Empordà’s history, kinship, language and terroir are shared with Roussillon in southern France as much as they are with Spain. The cold Tramontana wind blows from France south across the border into Empordà – so strongly at times that anyone behaving strangely is said to be ‘tocat per la Tramontana’ (‘touched by the Tramontana’).

Scroll down to see notes and scores for 18 exciting wines from Empordà

The Catalan region is roughly split in two: the higher-altitude Alt Empordà reaching up towards the Pyrenees; and Baix Empordà, extending south and towards the bright, blue Mediterranean sea.

Empordà was first planted by travelling Phoenicians in ancient times. After the devastating impact of the phylloxera bug in the late 19th century, many vineyards were replanted with different crops; a huge area is now dedicated to the production of cork trees. The lonely outlines of abandoned vineyards and terraced walls are a reminder of what was lost. Now, just 49 wineries manage 1,827ha of vineyards in the region.

Awaiting discovery

One of the many charms of Empordà is the sheer variety of its terroirs and wines. The soils are loosely based on limestone, sand and granite in the north and richer, clay-based subsoils to the south. The region’s rolling hills and bluffs add further complexity to the soil map.

Many vineyards have the same grape varieties planted on different soils, with individual vineyards or specific rows of vines often bottled separately, making for fascinating comparisons. Yet there’s a collective robustness to the best wines that speaks of the region as a whole.

This is primarily red-wine country (a little over 60%, according to the DO’s regional body), led by various shades of Garnacha and Cariñena (‘Lladoner‘ and ‘Samsó‘ are their local monikers). Clonal variation also contributes to the characterful nature of these wines.

Diversity and new dawns

There is a kaleidoscopic array of combinations of grape variety, clone and soil type. But perhaps the greatest Empordà wines are white, particularly those made from the increasingly popular Cariñena Blanca, a variety only recently approved (in March 2020) for use in the DO.

With its incredibly persistent acidity, bright flavour and ability to ripen evenly despite increasing temperatures, it will be an important variety of the future.

Historically, these wines have rarely been distributed beyond the gastronomic centres of Girona and Barcelona, but that is starting to change. The younger generation of winemakers are looking further afield, beyond the safety net of Costa Brava’s plethora of Michelin-starred restaurants.

Stylistically, the wines are evolving, too, becoming fresher, brighter and more accessible. Empordà’s unique range of fascinating wines are, for the most part, still undervalued and underrepresented outside the region. But for how long?

See notes and scores for 18 exciting wines from Empordà to seek out

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Languedoc-Roussillon: two words, three syllables each. You’d be forgiven for assuming some kind of parity. But Roussillon makes only about 5% as much wine as Languedoc.

Take a walk around Perpignan, just 10km from the Mediterranean and 20km from the Spanish border, and you’ll sooner spot the blood-and-gold stripes of the Senyera than the French tricolour. Street signs offer both Catalan and French names. Many locals believe Roussillon is more naturally grouped with Penedès and Priorat than Pic-St-Loup and Picpoul de Pinet.

Ask wine lovers to name the greatest estate in Languedoc and Mas de Daumas Gassac will undoubtedly feature. But what about Roussillon? Not so obvious, but there’s one producer that I would suggest without hesitation – Domaine Danjou-Banessy.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for 10 Domaine Danjou-Banessy wines

A singular estate

Travel eastwards along the Mediterranean coast from Roussillon and Languedoc and you reach the southern Rhône. The pinnacle of wine here? Château Rayas is the main contender. In fact, when I first tasted bottles from Danjou-Banessy, it was the wines of master winemaker Emmanuel Reynaud that sprang to mind.

Now comparing the greatest estate of Châteauneuf-du-Pape with a relatively unknown Roussillon domaine might raise some eyebrows; but let me explain. Like Rayas, Danjou-Banessy’s wines are not only brilliant, but they are stylistically unlike anything made by their neighbours.

Both producers make wines of tremendous personality. Not always faultless, polished or perfect – but always exciting, fascinating and memorable. They share similarly extreme climates but make wines with delicacy. ‘Our aim is to make fine wines,’ says Sébastien Danjou, one of two brothers who run the domaine, ‘even if we have a hot and dry climate, you don’t have to make something violent or brutal.’

There are even similarities in the way both domaine’s work. Both use whole-bunch fermentation and shy away from new oak. Rather than rigorous extraction, both opt for gentle infusion. ‘Extraction is very important in northern areas,’ says Sébastien, such as Burgundy, ‘but we have lots of sun, so it’s not needed.’ His brother Benoît adds: ‘we work on concentration not in the cellar but in the vineyard.’

Ancient vineyards

Old vines help them to achieve this concentration; and by ‘old’ they mean between 60-120 years. They don’t know how far back their family roots go here in the Agly Valley, but ‘my grandfather used to talk about his grandfather in the vines,’ says Benoît. He’s the younger of the two brothers, enthusiastic and funny; Sébastien was a teacher before joining the estate, and still has a professorial presence.

They aim to have three ages of vines for each soil type: old vines, middle-aged, and young, as well as fallow areas for the land to recover. The domaine is certified organic, and they use biodynamic methods where practicable.

Depending on the cuvée, they’re happy to blend across vine age and varieties – but not soil type. ‘We can’t blend slate with limestone or clay,’ says Benoît, ‘because slate soil gives a different taste to clay and limestone.’

The wines

The cuvée Estaca – one of my wines of the year in 2023 – is pure Grenache planted on black marl. The Cinsault of cuvée Espurna is planted next to it. I have only once tasted French Cinsault this good – grown by Emmanuel Reynaud, part of the blend for Château de Fonsalette.

Les Mirandes is a herbal, mentholated Syrah of unusual pungency. Les Myrs is very old Carignan grown on slate. There are many fine examples of this underrated variety grown in Roussillon, and this one is particularly delicate and compelling.

As with Grenache, Carignan grapes come in three colours – noir, gris and blanc. La Truffière blanc is pure Carignan Gris, a grape the brothers love for its bright acidity. Clos des Escounils is a white made from all three colours of Grenache. Coste is a pure Macabeu, another Roussillon speciality, here producing a light, fresh and stony white.

One question that remains for me is this. Considering this is the hottest wine region in mainland France, how are the alcohols so mild? Whites range from 12% to 12.5%; reds from 12.5% to 13.5%. Sébastien says they’re not even the first to pick; as with Rayas, some mysteries remain.

Any comparison with the wines of Reynaud can only go so far; both he and the Danjou-Banessy brothers are firmly rooted in their own local cultures after all. But those seeking the finest expressions of Mediterranean grapes, especially Grenache, will find much to love in both.

10 fabulous wines from Domaine Danjou-Banessy:

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‘We’re not in the habit of tasting old vintages of Corbières,’ says Louis Fabre, who founded his Languedoc estate in 1982 and, until 2020, oversaw the five domaines which form the Famille Fabre portfolio.

The reason he’s not in this habit, though, is more to do with the culture of wine he’s been brought up in, rather than the ageability of the wines. ‘We’re in a region where we think our wines don’t age well, that they have to be drunk quickly,’ he says. ‘But it’s all in our heads and even I sometimes struggle to think otherwise.’

The arrival of the next generation, in particular Louis’ daughter Clémence and her husband Louis-Jacques Ramin, who took over the running of the family portfolio in 2020, is changing that.

Louis-Jacques, who comes from a finance culture, doesn’t have that ‘psychological glass ceiling’, says Louis. So the time had come to taste through 30 years of history, culture and change, through the lens of the new generation.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for 20 vintages of Château Fabre Gasparets

A cuvée, not a château

Château Fabre Gasparets is the most iconic wine in the Famille Fabre portfolio – but don’t go looking to drop by the cellar door.

‘The actual château was sold about 15 years ago,’ says Clémence. ‘My father made some very audacious decisions, such as converting to organics in the 1990s and agroforestry, and economically he was obliged to sell some of the buildings.’

Boutenac is the only official cru within the sprawling 8,079-hectare mass of the Corbières appellation in Languedoc. Covering 220ha, the Boutenac vineyards fan out around the pine-littered Massif du Pinada, which peaks at 273m.

The vines that contribute to the Château Fabre Gasparets cuvée are dotted across the northeast flank of this massif, nestled among the garrigue within the smaller peaks and troughs between the villages of Boutenac, Luc-sur-Orbeiu and Gasparets.

Château Fabre Gasparets: the wine

Grape varieties Carignan, Mourvèdre, Syrah

Winemaking Syrah and Mourvèdre are destemmed, with regular pump overs; Carignan is whole-bunch fermented

Ageing 12 months, part in French oak and part in concrete egg-shaped tanks

Life and vine intertwined

Château de Luc is another of the family’s five domaines, and the home in which Louis and his wife Claire brought up their family.

In the cellar, there is a chunk of stone. ‘It is a fragment of a sarcophagus that my parents found in the garden when they started work to restore this building,’ says Jeanne Fabre, Clémence’s sister, who runs the wine tourism operations at Famille Fabre and is also president of the organisation committee of Millésime Bio, the world’s largest organic wine fair.

‘Carved into it are depictions of vines, as well as the Alpha and Omega signs’. It dates back to the time of the Visigoths. ‘The history of the vine has always punctuated our architecture, our landscape and our economic life in the Languedoc.’

Jeanne also highlights a ledger of revenue and expenses dating to 1800 and belonging to a farmer – by the name of Fabre – in the village of Gasparets, where Château de Luc is located.

More than simply quaint historical anecdotes, it explains how the domaine and surrounding area were once dedicated to polyculture.

‘I exchanged a sheep skin for a tool at the Lézignan fair; I sold this many litres of olive oil; I harvested my wheat,’ Jeanne reads aloud from the ledger.

The landscape was much more varied, the economy more diversified. Crops were rotated and therefore soils were healthier and more alive than those farmed under the prolific monoculture of today’s wine production.

Famille Fabre: key facts

Earliest recorded family history 1605

Foundation of current company 1982, by Louis Fabre

Vineyard area 360ha

The domaines

Château Fabre Gasparets acquired in 1711 (Corbières Boutenac)

Château Coulon acquired in 1816 (Corbières)

Château de Luc acquired in 1870 (Corbières)

La Grande Courtade acquired in 1950 (IGP Pays d’Oc)

Tour de Rieux acquired in 2016 (Minervois)

‘Never will we manage to go back to the balance we once had,’ says Jeanne. ‘Today we are in the kingdom of monoculture.’ But now the family has embarked on a path of diversification, ‘to compensate for this lack of biodiversity’.

‘We see the land is in difficulty because of this monoculture. It’s now up to us to make decisions that are a bit radical, to quickly turn things around.’

Along with the family’s 360ha of vineyards, there are 80ha of fields filled with chickpeas, barley and wheat. André Fabre, the youngest of Louis and Claire’s children, has spearheaded an ambitious agroforestry plan, planting kilometres of hedges around the vineyards to increase biodiversity, as well as apple and quince trees (he’s a budding cidermaker, too).

Having founded his family company in 1982, Louis started converting his vineyards to organics in 1991. The new generation is forging ahead with a strong sustainability agenda.

Key dates

1953 Louis Fabre, current winemaker and owner, is born

1982 Louis Fabre creates the Fabre estate

1991 Organic conversion begins

1996 Bernard Rehs joins and remains oenologist for 27 years. André Fabré Jr is born

1998 Stephane Yerle joins, specialising in micro-oxygenation

2002 Collaboration with St-Emilion cooper Fombrauge stops. New barrels brought in, and part of Château Fabre Gasparets is aged in concrete tanks

2005 Boutenac cru is created

2011 Grenache removed from the blend to give more freshness and ageing potential

2012 First year all Famille Fabre wines are certified organic.

2015 The vintage served at Clémence and Louis-Jacques’ wedding; Clémence and sister Jeanne, the 16th generation, join the company

2020 Clémence and Louis-Jacques Ramin take over Famille Fabre

Tasting 20 vintages across three decades

The line up featured 20 vintages between 1994 and 2020. The idea was to see what changes in the climate, blend and winemaking methods have brought to the style of the wine over time.

The tasting was both a privilege and a stark reminder of the impact of ongoing climate chaos. This was perhaps most clearly observed in two areas. Firstly in the increasing alcohol levels:

1994-1999 12.5%

2002-2006 13.5%

2007-2014 14%

2015-2020 13.5%-14.5%

Secondly, the removal of Grenache from the blend from 2011. ‘Grenache can bring really jammy, pruney notes, but we wanted a wine that kept a lot of freshness. So from 2010 we started to reduce the Grenache in the blend,’ explains Clémence.

And, indeed, the 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 showed bags of charm and approachability.

The removal of Grenache and an increase in Carignan has meant many more recent vintages balance their higher alcohols with Carignan’s fresh acidity. Syrah also used to be a more important component of the blend, but today it’s kept to 20% or less.

Vinification and ageing techniques have changed over time, too. In the early 1990s, carbonic maceration, little extraction and 100% ageing in old barrels was the norm. The late 1990s saw a change towards more extraction and Louis says this was when they started to work on the reaction between the wine and oxygen.

‘We realised Carignan needed to be worked a bit more: not too light in extraction and with a bit more oxygen,’ he says. This is also when the family started working with oenologist Stephane Yerle, who specialises in micro-oxygenation and organics, and makes his own wine at Vila Voltaire in St-Chinian. New oak was also introduced in the 2000s.

The wines from the first decade of the 2000s, although still delicious to drink, are bold and burly, with an overall feeling of extreme ripeness, dark chocolatey richness, char and toasty oak.

2017 was the first year that the Carignan was aged in small amphorae, and this particular vintage sings with vibrant fruit, unmarked by overt woody notes.

A key focus of the tasting was the levels of rainfall during each vintage, measured from October to October. Some of the exceptionally dry years (1998, 2002 and 2007), however, still show remarkable freshness. In fact some of my highest scoring wines came from very dry vintages. The effect of Boutenac’s deep stony soils, that allow the roots of the ancient Carignan vines to plunge deep in search of water, perhaps?

Best broached at least three years after release, Château Fabre Gasparets is an ageworthy wine and goes some way to put Boutenac in the much-deserved spotlight. The oak is still present in some vintages, but what linked these wines together was a seam of fine acidity aligned perfectly to bright, ripe fruit.

And as Louis says: ‘We’re working on making wines that are much more modern, are ready much earlier, and have much less power.’ They’ve clearly got a keen eye on the next generation of drinkers.

Château Fabre Gasparets: 20 vintages from 1994 to 2020

Wines are listed in order of vintage: oldest to youngest

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In 2002, Daniel Illsley exchanged a life in theatre for a career in wine. He founded the small chain of wine shops Theatre of Wine, and set up an import business to supply restaurants. He has been wine director of acclaimed restaurant Maison François in London’s St James’s since it opened in 2020, winning Wine List of the Year at the National Restaurant Awards in 2023. Daniel is currently writing about his adventures in wine.

‘There was never a man so notoriously abused,’ protests Malvolio in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, and it seems to me that Cariñena, aka Carignan, could argue the same case. It’s still all too easy to discern the wild reek of a carbonic Carignan in a Languedoc blend, but fortunes are changing for the grape once seen as the ugly sister to Grenache and Syrah. And not before time. At its best it has a profile of dark berries, forest balsam, smoke and spice, with vibrant acidity and a smudge of sooty tannins.

Cariñena is its true name, a nod to its supposed origins in Aragón, but it appears under many synonyms, a sign of its proliferation in the world of wine. Its natural home is in hot climates, so it grows in abundance along the Mediterranean coast from Catalonia to the Rhône. Spanish colonists took it to Sardinia, and its notoriety for high yields and resistance to drought spread from north Africa to the Levant, and even central California; anywhere cheap jug wine was needed.

I, too, loathed Carignan. Such was its lowly reputation that it was subjected to the vine pull purges of the 1980s and ’90s as wine lakes turned to oceans, and wine was being distilled for industrial alcohol. Many ancient vines were regrettably lost.

It would be wine from such old vines, crouched low in arid, decomposed schist or granite, that would convince me of its virtues, and I came to realise that it was not the vine, but the treatment it had been subjected to that was the source of Carignan’s miserable reputation.

Head to the hills

To taste it at its best one must head to the hills; to the Agly valley of Roussillon or, better still, the canyons of Priorat, where vines of venerable age cling to the steep slopes of fractured llicorella slate. Tasting a good vintage of mature Cariñena is the only epiphany any doubter needs. The sweep of flavours are as good, rich, mature and complex as any fine wine, any Châteauneuf-du-Pape or Bandol, to which it most closely bears a resemblance. Duck, especially a confit leg with garlicky lentils, would make a perfect dinner match. Younger, less grand wines can be enjoyed with a robust saucisson and a tortilla.

Curious tasters should seek out the rare Cariñena white and gris mutations. Like the red, they confer much-needed acidity, and evoke with ease aromas of hillside scrub and the intense mineral cut of the scree.

Discover Carignan: Daniel’s four to try

Let’s start in France. From the estate’s oldest vines, Domaine de Soulanes, Vieilles Vignes Blanc, Côtes Catalanes, Roussillon 2021 (£25-£27 Cambridge Wine Merchants, Theatre of Wine) is a sharply etched blend of Carignan Gris and Grenache Gris with layers of vermouth herbs, lemon rind, anise, dried grasses and a long stony finish. No hurry to drink this.

Then moving to Priorat in Spain, three that stand out. Cims de Porrera’s Classic 2015 (£60.70 Theatre of Wine; in the US, AR Wine New York) is sourced from old vines – up to 100 years of age – and is powerful, compact and muscular. The winery releases its cuvées later than others in the region, and the mature Les Sentius, Joan Bta Domènech 2000 (£215 Theatre of Wine) shows the complexity that great, evolved Cariñena can display, with notes of menthol, sloes and thick green leaves, dried fruits, leather and cured meat.

Lastly, and still in Priorat, Clos Mogador’s Manyetes 2019 (£65.60 Christopher Keiller), an exhilarating vintage of a parcel of extremely old Cariñena from René Barbier. Intense, opulent and beautifully defined by the grape’s intrinsic acidity, pulling the flavours through to the long finish. An essence.

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There is an abundance of well-known South American wines that are capable of long ageing.

These include icons such as Almaviva and Nicolás Catena. However, I want to shine a light on some less well-known bottles I’ve found that you may not have heard of, but are certainly wines for the long haul that can still evolve beautifully over time.

I like to call it relic hunting.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for 12 ageworthy South American wines

It’s a game I play every time I go to a wine shop while I’m in South America. Looking beyond the polished bottles on the front row, I rummage in the back aiming for those covered in dust or with tired labels.

In a small mini-market in Argentina’s remote wetlands I found a Terrazas de los Andes Chardonnay 2010 for less than £2… I nabbed that, and later delighted in its oily texture with a plate of cured jabali (wild boar).

In a restaurant near Chile’s Torres del Paine park I once found a Carmen Reserve 1999 and, much to the waiter’s surprise, enjoyed the whole bottle to myself over a dinner of guanaco (a larger version of a llama). It was so old that the label read Grande Vidure, years before it was renamed Carmenère, but the wine was far from old: spicy, energetic and delicious.

In a wine shop in Mendoza two blocks from my house, I found a Mendel Semillon 2013 for a third of its usual price. After popping home to have a quick sample, I came back with a trolley and took all of the 11 bottles left. I still kick myself for drinking those so fast, but the heady notes of lemon peel and honey with piercing acidity were irresistible.

I probably shouldn’t share this information because I’ll be deeply upset when I can’t play relic hunter anymore. But for the meantime, South America’s wines are being sold and served scandalously young – with older vintages wrongly being sent to the back of the shelf.

Without an en primeur system, or fine wine collectors either, there’s little incentive for wineries to hold back their wines and delay often much-needed income. There’s also still a misconception that many of South America’s wines can’t age.

Although the sunny climates in most of Argentina and Chile do make wines approachable in their youth, that does not mean that these wines aren’t ageworthy; in fact, they most certainly can be. And today more than ever, South America’s winemakers are producing wines that are worthy of holding back to taste in their prime of maturity.

Semillon makes a stand

On a visit to Lagarde winery in Luján de Cuyo you won’t leave the cellar without hearing the story of the 1942 Semillon.

By accident, an entire 1,800-litre oak cask was left filled with a 1942 vintage of dry Semillon wine and forgotten about for half a century. On its rediscovery in 1991, it was bottled as a special release and has served as one of the greatest testimonies to the ageability of South American white wines ever since.

The modern-day champion of Semillon in Argentina, though, is undoubtedly Roberto de la Mota. He started out in his winemaking career producing Semillon along with Chenin Blanc and Chardonnay with his father Raúl de la Mota at Bodega Weinert in the late 1980s.

But although the variety had lost favour in Argentina since, dwindling from over 5,500ha to just 600ha today, in 2009 de la Mota took up the mantle again. He has been making Semillon for his Mendel label ever since, waving the flag for this under-appreciated variety.

‘We have many old vines of Semillon in Mendoza, and really excellent-quality Semillon in cooler parts of the Uco Valley,’ explains de la Mota, who makes his wine from 70-year-old vines in Altamira. ‘The cool climate with the limestone soils give us very fresh acidity and strong personality, capable of long ageing.’

Several others have joined the Semillon mission. These include the Michelini family, Nieto Senetiner and Altocedro in Mendoza; Matías Riccitelli, Humberto Canale and Marcelo Miras in Río Negro. In Chile: Carmen and Santa Rita in Apalta; Bouchon and Longaví in Maule; and Roberto Henríquez and Leo Erazo in Itata.

Not only does the high acidity make these wines ageworthy but the concentration found in the old vines adds to the complexity and length of these outstanding wines.

Chardonnay for the long haul

However, it isn’t only old-vine Semillon that is proving its great potential to age.

Chardonnay is also a worthy contender. It was on a mission to make great Chardonnay that US winemaker Paul Hobbs was first brought to Argentina in 1989 by the Catena family, at the eve of Argentina’s quality revolution.

‘Even then I could see there was potential in the Chardonnay fruit – even if the winemaking needed a radical change,’ says Hobbs.

Today he makes several single-vineyard Chardonnay wines at Viña Cobos. ‘There are some extraordinary old vines, such as our 80-year-old Zingaretti estate in the Uco Valley, and great sites to plant new Chardonnay vines as well,’ he adds.

New vines of Chardonnay have, in particular, redefined the calibre of South American white wines in recent years. The combination of identifying great terroir with a modern, sensitive approach in the cellar has led to some of South America’s greatest and most ageworthy wines today.

They include Errazuriz’s Las Pizzaras from Aconcagua, Catena Zapata’s White Bones from Gualtallary and Bodega Chacra’s Chardonnay from Río Negro. While from Limarí the wines of Tabalí, Reta and Amelia will all no doubt still fend for themselves after decades in the cellar.

Following in the footsteps of Chardonnay, there is a great impulse happening across Argentina, Chile and Uruguay to make ageworthy white wines and blends from other key varieties including Chenin Blanc, Albariño, Marsanne, Roussanne, Viognier and Sauvignon Blanc. The fruits of which I’m sure we’ll enjoy in the years to come.

Reds built to last

Before the 225-litre French barrique became popular in South America in the 1990s, most of the red wines were made in large vats or foudres and aged significantly before release.

Some producers, including Bodegas Weinert, Carmelo Patti and Bodegas López in Mendoza, never stopped making wine this way.

Weinert’s current Cask Selection release is vintage 2012. Carmelo’s current UK release of Cabernet Sauvignon is 2007 and López has re-released its 1983 vintage of Montchenot.

While these are prime examples of a traditional approach still holding great promise for the future, the wines of the ‘modern school’ in South American winemaking are also coming of age now.

Complex and classy Bordeaux blends from top crus in Chile, Argentina and Uruguay – such as Viñedo Chadwick, Almaviva, Don Melchor, Nicolás Catena, Lindaflor, Cheval des Andes, Balasto and Monte Vide Eu – may still be released far too early, but they age gracefully in the cellar for those patient enough to wait.

Tasting these older vintages leaves no doubt of the potential for ageing – both in cask and bottle – that South American red Bordeaux blends have.

Beyond Bordeaux varieties and French barriques, there’s another movement underway seeking to optimise the continent’s Mediterranean varieties and returning to large-format ageing vessels. Marcelo Retamal is one of these returnees.

‘Before French barriques, we used these large old vats made from rauli (a native Chilean tree), so it’s nothing new,’ explains Retamal, who was head winemaker at De Martino from 1996 until 2021. ‘I now prefer larger format foudres and cement because we have less of an oak impact, but great conditions for long ageing of red wines.’

His Mediterranean red blends, including Syrah, Garnacha and Mourvèdre, from Viñedos de Alcohuaz in high-altitude Elqui, spend up to five years in cask or concrete. Bottles such as his Pingo Pingo Carignan, with 2015 as the current release, show the great vivacity that these wines retain and only hint at the long life yet to come.

Old-vine reds

Old vines of Carignan further south, in Maule, are also at the heart of some of the most exciting ageworthy red wines coming from Chile.

The association and quasi-appellation of VIGNO, Vignerons of Carignan, was set up to celebrate these dry-farmed old vines but also with a minimum two-year ageing requirement — one which is often far surpassed.

On a recent tasting of the VIGNO collective’s 2010 vintage, I can assure you these wines are still relative infants, with dense, compact aromas and a tense tannin and acid structure built to last. They are also often a bargain, giving anyone an ample opportunity to build a long-lasting wine collection.

Whether Carignan or Cabernet Sauvignon, there are a host of South American reds that will stand the test of time. As with the white wines, we just need to have the patience as a market to give them time to shine.

Until then, you’ll find me lurking at the back of dusty wine shelves hunting down some of these priceless gems.

See tasting notes and scores for 12 ageworthy South American wines

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The South of France is a vast region, ranging from Nice on the Mediterranean coast in the east, to Biarritz on the Atlantic coast in the west. It’s separated from northern Spain and the Iberian Peninsula by the Pyrenees Mountains.

The latest Occitanie tasting showcased the sheer variety of appellations that can be found here. Historically, Occitania was a culturally distinct area encompassing parts of France, Spain and Italy, where the Occitan language was spoken. Today the term Occitanie describes a French administrative region, created in 2016 by combining the areas of Languedoc-Roussillon and the Midi-Pyrénées.

The region is bordered by Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur in the east, Nouvelle-Aquitaine in the west and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes in the north.

Occitanie is now the largest wine region in France. A total of 263,000ha of vineyards produce around a third of the country’s total wine production.

In particular the area is known for organic and biodynamic viticulture, thanks to a generous Mediterranean climate. There are a total of 1,557 organic wineries here, working with 23,303ha of organic vineyards.

Wine styles

The numbers are impressive and perhaps it’s no surprise that they translate into a vast array of wine styles. Wines from Occitanie can be red, white and rosé and are produced across 87 AOP (Appellation d’Origine Protégée) regions. These include Languedoc, Faugères, Minervois, Corbières, Côtes de Gascogne, Pic-St-Loup, Cahors and Côtes de Roussillon.

Producers can choose to make wines within the appellation system or the less restrictive IGP (Indication Géographique Protégée) system. This is a great place to start if you’re looking for value wines from this area.

Stylistically wine lovers are spoiled for choice in Occitanie. Options range from crisp whites such as Picpoul de Pinet – perfect with seafood – to the full-bodied reds of Côtes du Roussillon-Villages, via fruity Pic-St-Loup rosés. Not forgetting the naturally sweet wines of Banyuls.

Many wines are approachable blends, featuring grapes such as the red Grenache, Mourvèdre, Syrah and Carignan, or white Colombard, Roussanne and Chenin Blanc.

The choice can be overwhelming, so we’ve highlighted some favourites from the tasting, all costing less than £20. They include a honeyed white blend of Grenache Blanc, Roussanne and Vermentino from Côtes Catalanes; an organic IGP Pays d’Oc rosé and a hidden gem red, made from the unusual Fer Servadou grape in the little-known IGP of Aveyron.

Great value wines from Occitanie:

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Overextraction is a common problem in Rasteau this year, which is particularly regrettable since it’s avoidable. The result is a lot of very burly, unfriendly tannins.

Scroll down to see Matt’s top Rasteau, Cairanne & Vinsobres 2019 tasting notes and scores

Some wines will come round in time – many I tasted were only part-way through barrel maturation after all, so will further soften before bottling.

But for those who’ve met the challenges of the vintage successfully, 2019 was a very good year. Julie Paolucci of Domaine la Luminaille is optimistic: she predicts ‘this vintage will age well thanks to its body and acidity.’

In Cairanne, it’s a very opulent vintage, with flowing, liqueur fruit flavours. They are only rarely jammy or raisined, but even the best wines have a warming potency. White wines, which can be picked earlier without having to wait for the same degree of phenolic ripeness as reds, are more consistent. They are ripe and expressive with purity of expression.

Naturally fresher terroirs – such as Vinsobres – are a good place to look for balanced wines this year. The rich, ripe fruit benefits from the edgier acidity and salinity that this terroir provides.

Quick links

Individual appellation analysis and top-scoring wines:

Châteauneuf-du-Pape

Gigondas, Vacqueyras & Beaumes de Venise

Lirac & Tavel

Key producers in 2019

Domaine Alary

Domaine des Amadieu

Domaine Chaume-Arnaud

Domaine les Grands Bois

Domaine la Luminaille

Domaine Roche

Value picks

Domaine de Dionysos Cairanne ‘La Cigalette’ 2019

Domaine les Grands Bois Cairanne ‘Maximilien’ 2019

Domaine Brusset Rasteau ‘La Bastide’ 2019

Domaine la Luminaille Rasteau ‘Garance’ 2019

Tardieu-Laurent Rasteau ‘Vieilles Vignes’ 2019

Domaine Chaume-Arnaud Vinsobres 2019

Domaine Alary Cairanne blanc ‘Jean de Verde’ 2019

See Matt’s top Rasteau, Cairanne & Vinsobres 2019 tasting notes and scores

See also

Rhône 2019 En Primeur: Full report plus top scoring winesNorthern Rhône 2019 report plus top scoring winesSouthern Rhône 2019 report plus top scoring wines

Climatic conditions on the west and east banks were broadly similar in 2019, and the Gard appellations display a similarly ripe, opulent style to its neighbours in the Vaucluse.

Scroll down to see Matt’s top Lirac & Tavel 2019 tasting notes and scores

Rodolphe des Pins of Château de Montfaucon says ‘it’s a great vintage – I was a bit surprised, I thought it would be more unbalanced.’

Winemakers with old vines who adapted their approach to the season made concentrated, elegant wines that will offer great value for money.

There are some very good whites and rosés in Lirac this year, plump yet fresh. Tavel producers I spoke to were also surprised at how successful the vintage was given the circumstances, though I would drink them young rather than be tempted to age them this year.

Quick links

Individual appellation analysis and top-scoring wines:

Châteauneuf-du-Pape

Gigondas, Vacqueyras & Beaumes de Venise

Rasteau, Cairanne & Vinsobres

Key producers in 2018

Château d’Aqueria

Domaine Coudoulis

Domaine la Lôyane

Château de Montfaucon

Les Vignobles Assemat

Value picks

Domaine Coudoulis Lirac rouge ‘Evidence’ 2019

Domaine la Lôyane Lirac rouge 2019

Château de Montfaucon Lirac rouge 2019

Château d’Aqueria Tavel 2019

Les Vignobles Assemat Lirac blanc 2019

Domaine Pelaquié Lirac blanc ‘Luc Pélaquié’ 2019

See Matt’s top Lirac & Tavel 2019 tasting notes and scores

See also

Rhône 2019 En Primeur: Full report plus top scoring winesNorthern Rhône 2019 report plus top scoring winesSouthern Rhône 2019 report plus top scoring wines

Southern Rhône 2019

Overall rating 4.5/5

A swelteringly hot, very dry year that was surprisingly successful, especially in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, both reds and whites. Elsewhere there are mixed results; some excellent wines, others with unbalanced alcohol or tough tannins.

Southern Rhône 2019 wine of the vintage: Le Vieux Donjon, Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Rhône, 2019 

So how hot was it, exactly? Well on 28th June 2019, the temperature in Gallargues-le-Montueux near Nîmes hit 45.9 ̊ C, a new record for France.

It was also exceptionally dry throughout the Southern Rhône, with barely any rainfall during the summer months.

Hot and sunny weather is to be welcomed of course – grapes need to ripen – but nobody would hope for conditions like this.

Scroll down to see Matt’s top Southern Rhône 2019 tasting notes and scores

Quick links

Individual appellation analysis and top-scoring wines: coming soon

Châteauneuf-du-Pape

Gigondas, Vacqueyras & Beaumes de Venise

Rasteau, Cairanne & Vinsobres

Lirac & Tavel

Inevitably, there are many unbalanced wines, with low acidity, excessive alcohol, and jammy or raisined flavours. But by no means all. There are also some delicious, rich, vivid wines that are well worth buying.

Weather conditions

Unusually, what made all the difference wasn’t what happened during the growing season, it was what happened before; in the words of Louis Barruol of Château de Saint Cosme, ‘a vintage is not just a summer.’

Heavy rains during the previous autumn and winter replenished the water in the soil, giving the vines access to just enough moisture to sustain them during the brutal summer that followed. Old vines with deep root systems in water-retaining soils could make the most of this; young vines, or those on free-draining soils, fared less well.

There are other mitigating factors. For a start, there was none of the devastating downy mildew that wreaked havoc in 2018. Neither was there any serious coulure like in 2017, so yields were high, helping to temper the climatic extremes.

There was no problem with ripeness, and vineyards had a clean bill of health at harvest. With no rot or threat of rain winemakers could choose their moment to pick with precision. And the time of harvest was crucial; potential alcohol levels escalated wildly towards the end of the season. Grapes were small, with thick skins, making for concentrated wines with robust tannic loads.

Top performers

Châteauneuf-du-Pape has a preternatural ability to cope with climatic extremes, and it is undoubtedly the best performing appellation this year. The best wines are hugely powerful, with velvety tannins and great vitality.

Gigondas had another very good year, as did other fresh terroirs such as Vinsobres and the northern reaches of the Southern Rhône.

It’s a less exciting year for Vacqueyras; too many wines have thick, leathery tannins. Often this is down to overextraction – a common miscalculation this year throughout the region.

White wines often excel in cooler vintages such as 2014. But I was surprised at the quality of many of the whites this year, they have a surprising intensity for such a hot year.

Again, it’s Châteauneuf that leads the pack, with good value options in Vacqueyras, Cairanne and Lirac.

Apart from some select Châteauneufs, the whites should be drunk straight away, and enjoyed for their youthful vigour and exotic fruit. When it comes to the reds, it’s hard to generalise. Many will be at their best when young. But the top Châteauneuf reds will age for decades.

The 2019 vintage will always be remembered for its heat, but it’s not the whole story. As the years roll on, some wines will age quickly, but others will surprise and delight for many years to come.

See Matt’s top Southern Rhône 2019 tasting notes and scores

The following list comprises wines that scored 96 points and above. There are also 24 wines that scored 95 points and 31 that scored 94 points.

See also

Rhône 2019 En Primeur: Full report

Northern Rhône 2019 report plus top scoring wines

Bottles produced: 9,600 bottles and 33 magnums

Grapes: 50% Grenache, 30% Syrah, 20% Carignan

Yield: 20 hL/Ha

Alcohol: 15%

Format: 750 mL

Drink from/to: 2025-2027

Price UK: N/A

Price US: $35

The vintage: For those who avoided the unusual (but in some cases severe) late spring frosts Languedoc-Roussillon enjoyed a good-excellent year in 2017. A long warm summer ripened fruit evenly, with many enjoying an early harvest, and quality across the board was celebrated.

The wine: Grapes grown on the shale and granite soils of Maury were hand-harvested and sorted before traditional vinification and aging in large oak barrels and cement vats. Les Dentelles is the ‘big sister’ of the Domaine’s Cuvee Constance, offering great power and freshness and dominated by bold red fruit. The Domaine itself is a relatively new venture, established in 2001 by Jean-Luc Thunevin, owner of Château Valandaud in St Emilion and Jean-Roger Calvet, a young winemaker from Maury.

If you're looking for more bang for your buck, keep an eye out for these wines as they're released by wine merchants...

Matt Walls selects St-Joseph as the best value appellation in 2017 in his En-primeur report, stating that ‘in a vintage like this, St-Joseph is home to some of the best value wines of France’.

But the Rhône contains so much variety that value can be found in plenty of other appellations too. Here, Matt picks out his top value picks of the vintage.

See also:

Top scoring Rhône 2017 wines

Northern Rhône 2017 wines

Southern Rhône 2017 wines

Best value Rhône 2017 wines:

Return to the Rhône 2017 hub page

Rhône 2017 may be considered a rather inconsistent vintage but flashes of brilliance are still to be found, reports Matt Walls...

Northern Rhône 2017

Concentrated, long-lived red wines, generally very good to excellent in quality, very ripe but not jammy. Apart from a clutch of top performers, whites can lack precision and focus.

4/5

Southern Rhône 2017

A hot, dry year has resulted in a very good to excellent vintage of powerful, structured red wines, though sometimes overripe or with leathery tannins. Whites tend towards richness over freshness.

4/5

‘It’s a very good vintage, with flashes of greatness at both poles’

When we look back in ten years time, 2017 won’t be held in quite the same esteem as the exceptional 2015 and 2016 Rhône vintages – in quality terms it’s simply too erratic.

But here and now you’re not buying a vintage, you’re buying individual wines, and the best 2017s hit similar heights to the two previous years, albeit in a very different style.

The 2017s all share the impact of a parched summer, which has led to a rather inconsistent vintage.

Quick link: See all Rhône 2017 en primeur tasting notes & scores

‘It was dry, there was no rain,’ says Laurence Féraud at Domaine de Pegau in Châteauneuf-du-Pape. ‘The berries were really small, more like blackcurrants. Beautiful bunches, but so small.’

The drought impacted yields to some degree, but not as much as the coulure (poor fruit-set), hitting Grenache hard and, to a lesser extent, Viognier.

Continue reading below

Rhône 2017 en primeur reports:

Top scoring Rhône 2017 wines

Northern Rhône report

Southern Rhône report

Best value Rhône 2017 wines

Winemakers blessed with old vines on the right terroir have been able to turn the dry conditions and low yields to their advantage, making concentrated, powerful, ageworthy wines. Inevitably, however, some wines veer towards overripeness and tough tannins.

There are some good whites in both north and south, but these are relatively scarce this year – whether it’s better in the north or south is hard to call. It’s a very good vintage, with flashes of greatness at both poles, but generally speaking, 2017 is a vintage in which to buy top red wines from the best domaines.

Best Producers in 2017:

Northern Rhône

Domaine Les 4 Vents

Domaine Les Bruyères

M Chapoutier

Domaine JL Chave

Domaine Clape

Domaine Combier

Domaine Guy Farge

Ferraton Père & Fils

Domaine Pierre Gaillard

Domaine Gonon

Domaine Bernard Gripa

E Guigal

Domaine Jamet

Domaine Gaylord Machon

Domaine Stéphane Ogier

Domaine Christophe Pichon

Domaine Rostaing

Domaine Marc Sorrel

Domaine François Villard

Domaine Alain Voge

Southern Rhône

Domaine Alary

Domaine Beau Mistral

Domaine des Bernardins

Domaine Brusset

Domaine des Carabiniers

Domaine Combe Julière

Le Clos du Caillou

Domaine de L’Espigouette

Moulin de La Gardette

Château de Montfaucon

Château Rayas

Domaine Roger Sabon

Domaine Le Sang de Cailloux

Château St Roch

Domaine Vallot

You might also like:

Burgundy 2017: Full en primeur report

Andrew Jefford finds great winemaking near Maury.

Wine lovers may remember 2003 as the hottest summer since the big bang, but it began with a very cold winter — and by autumn, too, the cold was again biting deeply. “Amanda, Sam and I were staying in a tiny cottage in a 9-house hamlet called La Vialasse in the middle of the Corbières”. Master of Wine Justin Howard-Sneyd, at that time one of Britain’s best-known supermarket wine buyers, was looking back on a turning point in his life.

“It was late October. We’d bought a few bottles in Maury earlier that day. Sam was aged five back then. He was asleep in bed, the wind was howling around the eaves, the wood-burning stove was lit, we’d got the doors of the stove open and a thick duvet wrapped around us, then I pulled the cork of the Clos del Rey 2001. It unleashed this extraordinary explosion of deep black fruit, plus garrigue aromas of myrtle, juniper, rosemary, and a palate of crushed black slate. Somewhere into the second glass, the vineyard dream, which until then had been rather insubstantial, took root. We’d found the kind of wine that I wanted to make.”

Clos del Rey is the creation of Jacques Montagné, and a little earlier this summer, I stood with Jacques, his son Julien and Justin in their cellar: the three Js. The reminiscences continued.

“There was a crisis of the vineyards around 20 or 25 years ago,” Jacques pointed out. “No one wanted our fortified wines any more; the market was collapsing. We had to do something.” He bought up the best old parcels of Grenache and Carignan he could find. The vines, he felt, had to have a future.

At the same moment, celebrated St-Emilion garagiste Jean-Luc Thunevin arrived in Maury, lured to Roussillon by those same old vines. He fell in love with the Clos del Rey wines. “He said to me ‘You vinify and I’ll sell'”. Jacques remembers being invited over to St-Emilion for en primeur season. He was astonished, as an obscure winemaker from a troubled fortified-wine zone, suddenly to find himself sitting with Thunevin, Alain Vauthier and Peter Sisseck as Jancis Robinson and Michel Bettane called to taste.

Thunevin egged him on to follow the garage techniques of the day. “Crazy things: new wood for malo, and then even more new wood afterwards.” Three years later, Jacques was joined in the cellar by Julien. At that point, he and Jean-Luc Thunevin parted company — and he barely ages his wine in any wood at all any more. “No more barriques! I got fed up with barriques.”

Father and son have 50 ha — but they only vinify the eight best hectares themselves, which goes some way to explaining why their wines are so good; the rest of the fruit goes to the Maury co-operative. Some tasting notes for this hidden star of the Roussillon are given below.

Howard-Sneyd, meanwhile, couldn’t forget the wine that he and Amanda drank in the autumn cold. He subsequently made friends with local British winemaker Richard Case of Domaine de la Pertuisane – and he asked him to report back if any good local vineyards came up for sale. Thus it was that, at an even colder moment in February 2004, Justin found himself (without Amanda this time) standing in a bleak vineyard of old vines on stony schist soils called Coume de Roy, sited directly beneath some of the very finest Clos del Rey vineyards. “I didn’t,” admits Justin, “have any idea at all about what I was doing, or what I should be looking for. It’s hard to tell much about a vineyard in February. But … I said yes.” This was the birth of Domaine of the Bee.

It could have been a folly. It’s hard to underestimate the challenge of Roussillon, where the average yield is around 25 hl/ha, and where outstanding wine is more likely to come from vines yielding around 15 hl/ha (that was the figure Justin used for his business plan).

“We asked ourselves how we could create a supply chain whereby we could make any money. I also realised that, as a producer, the only way I was going to maximise my enjoyment of my wine was by knowing my consumers.” So 85% of Domaine of the Bee’s production is sold in the UK, and of that around 80 per cent is sold directly, via the domain’s own wine club and at fairs. “It’s so important to tell your story and get a share of the headspace of your consumers.”

Even though the couple have bought more vineyards, giving them a total of just over 4 ha, it doesn’t justify a winery of their own — so they work with Jean-Marc Lafage, who bought Ch St Roch from Marc and Emma Bournazeau-Florensa (see last week’s blog) in 2007, and who also runs Domaine Lafage — a total of 170 ha altogether. The hyper-professional Lafarge had worked around the world as a consultant winemaker after training in part in Australia with Andrew Mitchell in the Clare valley, as well as at Brokenwood and de Bortoli, so the fit with the internationally minded Howard-Sneyd is a good one.

Both, though, are besotted with the Roussillon’s old vines, and the rich, concentrated, masterful wines they offer. “Those old vines are like people in a retirement home,” reflects Justin. “All you have to do is talk to them, and you’ll find they have something very interesting to say.” And the alcohol levels?

“Consumers,” suggests Justin, “like the flavour of wine at 15% alcohol. Ok, they’ve learned that it’s now fashionable to say that you want a wine at lower alcohol, but it wasn’t very long ago that people looked at the label of a wine and said they wanted it to be higher. We learned a lesson with the 2013 vintage. It was lighter here and the critics all loved it. But the public didn’t like it; that vintage sold less well. It’s a terrible mistake to say that everyone is moving towards low-alcohol wines.”

I agree (look out for a feature on this subject in the December edition of Decanter magazine). And if you object to wine at 14.5% or 15%, you’ll never have a chance to enjoy the wines which best express the sunlight, the stone, the wind and plunging, soaring hills of Roussillon. That, as I hope the following notes indicate, would be a shame.

Tasting the wines of the Three Js

Domaine of the Bee

Domaine of the Bee, The Bee-Side, Côtes Catalanes 2015

In the difficult 2014 vintage, pest problems meant that Justin Howard-Sneyd had to throw away half his crop, while the rest made a lighter wine than usual. The Carignan wasn’t retained “but the Grenache had a Pinot-like style and we felt that something had to be done with it.” Thus The Bee-Side was born – and it’s now a permanent feature, blending domain Grenache and purchased Grenache, both of them in a lighter, more aerial style and given a long cold soak (a technique favoured by Jean-Marc Lafage in general). This is clear red in colour, with fresh, pure strawberry fruits: toothsome, lifted and lively. Look out, too, for a liquorice-like freshness in the finish. There’s almost no tannin here, and the wine could take a chill. 90; 14.5%

Domaine of the Bee, Côtes du Roussillon-Villages 2015

The blend of the main domain wine is Grenache and Carignan in roughly equal proportions. The Carignan is mostly steel-fermented, while all the Grenache and the rest of the Carignan is cold-macerated in opened, upturned demi-muids before being fermented, with two or three punchdowns a day. It’s then run into a mixture of demi-muids and barriques (one quarter new) for 14 months. It’s dark and deep in colour, with rich, voluptuous black-fruit scents: ripe damsons and sweet, juicy blackberries. On the palate, this sumptuous wine is richly fruited, sweet and succulent, yet there’s a freshness there from its lively tannins and gentle, ripe acidity. The sweetness eases to a dry, faintly spicy finish. This is serious yet gratifying Roussillon which drinks well now yet will age well, too. 93; 15%

Domaine of the Bee, Single Barrel No 14, Carignan, Côtes Catalanes 2015

Pure, demi-muid-fermented Maury Carignan from the upper part of the La Roque vineyard: “so good,” said Justin, “that it seemed a terrible shame to blend it away”. This is very dark in colour, with chic, classy black-fruit scents: brightly sweet, yet fresh and vital. On the palate, it is deep, intense and driving; there’s a sense of power unleashed, yet it’s savage and austere at the same time. No single ‘Bee’ wine sums up the stony, wind-tortured landscape in which it came into being better than this one. 94; 14.5%

Domaine of the Bee, Les Genoux, Côtes Catalanes 2015

Les Genoux (‘the bee’s knees’, of course) is only produced in the best years, and comes from the oldest vines in the Coume de Roy vineyard, whatever the variety – so this is a blend of Grenache and Carignan with both Grenache Gris and Grenache Blanc, all from vines of over 90 years old. The red-white blend gives it a paler colour, and it’s a wine in which aroma provides almost as much pleasure as flavour: wax, bramble, pollen, strawberry, thyme, gentian root … the longer you sniff and sip, the more you find. It’s relatively smooth in texture, and is not in any way sweet or exaggerated, but full of poised ripeness. 92; 14.5%

Clos del Rey

Clos del Rey, Le Sabina, Côtes du Roussillon-Villages 2017

This great-value wine (available from retailers locally for less than 10 euros, incredibly enough) is two-thirds Grenache with Syrah and Carignan: a great draught of pure Maury fruit: chunky, dense, sweet-fruited yet finishing dry and stony, and packed with the drama and grandeur of the place. 91; 14.5%

Clos del Rey, L’Aragone, Côtes du Roussillon-Villages 2016

Carignan-dominated (between ourselves, maybe a bit more than that), packed with the unique perfumes this variety can surrender when it’s ancient, wind-dried, schist-bathed, star-struck and surrounded by hundreds of kilometers of Mediterranean scrublands: blackcurrants and sloes, with grapefruit pith, rue, gentian and cade, like a gin distiller’s suitcase. It’s dense, deep, almost shattering on the palate: taut and tight, rigorous and long, murmuringly aromatic throughout. The extraordinary wine is the greatest Carignan I have ever tasted – and no one is at present importing it to the UK. 96; 14.5%

Clos del Rey, Côtes du Roussillon-Villages 2015

This, the domain’s top wine, comes from a small parcel of 130-year-old vines (two-thirds Carignan, one-third Grenache), and it has what must be France’s simplest, most artless yet also most touchingly beautiful wine labels. It does see a little wood, and you can’t say that’s a mistake: the fruit still has the aromatic command and authority of the other wines, but now there is a little creamy cosseting, too, and a sense of beeswax polish and poise. On the palate, it is crafted in best ‘liqueur of the garrigue’ style: deep-pile blackcurrant fruits, lavish and dense, resonant, echoing like a bird cry around the hills. A quick look at both the 2013 and the 2004 vintages of this wine shows how the aromatic layers grow with time (look out for violet, mushroom and leather) as the wines grows more luscious and succulent still. 94; 14.5%

Read articles from Decanter’s November 2018 issue, available online for Premium subscribers

Read more Andrew Jefford columns here

Mountain vineyards and arid summers often place heavy demands on Priorat's winemakers, but the results can be excellent. Sit back with a glass in-hand and read Andrew Jefford's report on a recent trip, plus see 15 of his favourite reds to try from this fascinating corner of Spain...

Scroll down to see Andrew’s top 15 Priorat reds – exclusively for Decanter Premium members

Priorat is a secret wine kingdom, hidden and remote. Its loneliness strikes you most clearly at night. You can prowl the constantly twisting roads and never see other headlights; turn off the engine, and the silence can make your ears ache. Even the dogs seem shy of barking. Perhaps they’re awed by the glitter of the stars.

If ever a place was destined to lure monks, this is it. The Carthusians had to find their way here – and they did, back in the 12th century.

They went to the furthest recesses of the region, hard up against the cliffs of Montsant, literally ‘the sacred mountain’. It’s a remote fastness, even today; back then it must have been wild enough to defy survival itself. What else should they call the spot they chose for their fragile little chartreuse but Escaladei, or ‘God’s ladder’? Not only did they survive, but they prospered to the extent that much of this inland island eventually became their dominion – hence its present-day name, and that of the wine it reluctantly surrenders.

Ask local winemakers to describe DOQ Priorat itself, and its relationship to the DO of Montsant which surrounds it, and most resort to the image of the fried egg. Montsant is the lower lying white; Priorat the domed, glowing yolk.

The image is so striking as to be irresistible. Don’t visualise the yolk, though, as gold – but dark brown, to reflect the dense, light-absorbing llicorella (variously translated as slate or schist, both of them interrelated metamorphic rocks), which dominates Priorat.

Nothing, meanwhile, could be less like a seamless yolky membrane than the bucking contours of the hills, which pack this fierce enclave. Every house here has a view that inspires. Or scares.

Splendid isolation

We’re in southern Catalonia, near Tarragona – but also far from Tarragona, with its dreary coastline and heavy chemical industry; a light year away in terms of topography; several biomes away as the landscape is dressed.

Few roads find their way into Priorat; most come knocking at the back door, the southern part of the region, close to Falset, the only small town hereabouts. From there, you climb into the secret kingdom and its 12 widely scattered little villages.

In pre-phylloxera days, when plantings were more extensive than today, the vineyards were often a day or two’s mule trek away. Vine-tenders would leave their village homes for a week to work.

I ask one wine-grower, sara Pérez of Mas Martinet and Venus La Universal, to describe Priorat to me. ‘Heavy, dark, intense,’ she says, ‘gravity; density. But also the sensation of vertigiousness, of rising and falling.’

She works in Priorat, but goes home every day (with some relief) to Montsant, where the generally limey soils are lighter in both colour and texture, the hills more muted, and the atmosphere conveyed by the landscape is gentler, less oppressive, less confronting. ‘In Priorat, the darkness absorbs the light. In Montsant, the light absorbs the darkness.’

What does all this mean in terms of aroma and flavour? We are, here, at a latitude roughly equivalent to Bari in Puglia, Italy. Priorat may lie in the northern half of Spain, but it is very definitely a southern European wine region.

The Consell Regulador’s 2010 climate figures for Torroja del Priorat in the centre of the region showed it had an average annual temperature of 14.5°C and average rainfall of 518mm (it’s been less in recent years); annual sunshine hours usually measure around 2,600. This puts it in the same league, for example, as France’s Châteauneuf-du-Pape, for which the equivalent figures are 14.8°C, 650mm and 2,800 hours.

The fact that the mountain of Montsant lies to the north of the region protects it from cold northern winds; indeed the region is surrounded by mountains to the east and the west, too, like a kind of protective horseshoe. Daytime temperatures regularly reach 40°C at some point or other in summer.

Grape selection

Given all of this, it should surprise no one that these are Big Wines.

Most of Priorat’s reds measure 14.5%-15.5% alcohol and Garnatxa (Garnacha or Grenache) can easily crest 16%. Garnatxa is the most widely planted Priorat variety, at 730ha of the DOQ total of 1,844ha; then comes Carinenya (Cariñena or Carignan, sometimes also called Samsó here): 510ha, Cabernet Sauvignon (234ha), Syrah (228ha) and Merlot (99ha).

The Bordeaux varieties and Syrah, by the way, are the legacy of the early years of the Priorat renaissance, back in the 1980s, when they were thought ‘more qualitative’ than the indigenous Garnatxa and Carinenya, but also in some sense necessary if Priorat was to be taken seriously as a fine wine region. No one thinks that today, and few are still planting these varieties, so they will gradually fade from the scene.

Don’t be prejudiced against wines that contain them. In a region like this, the stamp of origin will always eclipse varietal style; a Priorat Cabernet is Priorat first and foremost. These varieties also bring a certain intricacy of flavour to blends, and can outperform in cool vintages.

‘They give more than they risk,’ is the summary of Anne Cannan of Clos Figueras. If they are not being replanted, it’s because they struggle for balance both as plants and in terms of their fruit constitution. Neither Cabernet nor Syrah enjoys the often searingly dry Priorat summers, while in many sites Merlot sugar-ripens too quickly, leaving pyrazines in the skins.

There we are, I’ve said it: balance. Few questions of wine aesthetics are more discussed than this one at present, and it was a topic raised by almost every grower I spoke to in the region.

They’re aware that 15.5% on a label doesn’t necessarily play well in the international fine wine market any more – and yields are so low (usually 25hl/ha or less) and costs (especially labour) so high that Priorat must convince the market at £30 a bottle, or €15-€20 at source. That’s the break-even point here. The question of balance, though, is more than usually resistant to simple answers.

Hitting the heights

Before I outline some of the Priorat responses, let’s explore the physical texture of the place in more detail.

When you tiptoe into Priorat via Falset, you’ll find yourself at 350m above sea level; the lowest of the 12 villages, tiny El Molar on the southwestern boundary, sits at 200m. From there, the region gradually ramps up northwards, via Porrera and Gratallops via Torroja, the two Vilella villages and breezy Poboleda towards Escaladei and then Montsant mountain itself.

The highest village, La Morera de Montsant, lies at 780m; and Terroir al Límit’s Les Manyes vineyard, which straddles the northern boundary between Priorat and Montsant, lies at 900m. That makes 700m of altitude differential within the region: a huge span, with a commensurately dramatic effect on the constitution of musts and wines.

As a rule, you lose 1°C over the growing season for every 180m of altitude; a vineyard at 500m can often ripen up to two weeks later than one at 300m. It means that wines from the southern end of Montsant have a different, richer and softer style to those of the north, where the wines have more acidity, are more bracing in youth, and need longer to mature.

In any case, this is a region of marked diurnal temperature differences. According to the Consell Regulador, some locations in Priorat can reach daytime temperatures of 40°C, followed by night-time temperatures of 12°C: an astonishing range rarely matched elsewhere, in either hemisphere.

This, by the way, is an absolute contrast to conditions in Châteauneuf (or, for that matter, Bordeaux), where the altitude range is 23m-128m, and where diurnal temperature differences in summer are slight.

In search of balance

The result of these altitude and diurnal temperature differences is that Priorat wines rarely lack acidity, so if you’re one of those drinkers who defines ‘balance’ by reference to acidity, you’ll have no grounds for complaint.

In tasting a wide range of red Priorat wines for this article, indeed, it often seemed that the problems of balance came when high acidity was unaccompanied by central palate density, structure, flesh and texture; there are red wines here from higher altitudes and cooler sites which almost mimic the balance of Priorat whites.

There is a further threat, too. Not alcohol in itself, which plays a submissive, indeed supportive, note in wines with the innate concentration and drama of those of Priorat (a legacy of the region’s stony soils and generally extreme conditions), but any hint of raisiny fruit, and particularly raisiny fruit in conjunction with lavish oak: a drying combination, and one that hardly sits well with the sustained acidity of higher-altitude sites or stark diurnal temperature differences.

If there was a general failing of some of the most ambitious pioneer Priorats of the 1980s and 1990s, it was this. Few Priorat wines are raisiny or over-oaked today.

‘We don’t want the ripe, ripe grape,’ says Cokè Bálon Jiménez of Terroir al Límit. ‘We want the fresh grape.’ So in addition to seeking out higher altitude sites, the Terroir Al Límit response is to favour earlier picking – so early, indeed, that the team sometimes has difficulty matching Priorat’s minimum alcohol requirements (13% for white wines and 13.5% for reds).

Having switched from 300-litre barrels to larger foudres, Bálon and owner Dominik Huber are now moving away from wood altogether, towards concrete storage. ‘Big oak and big ripeness kills the fruit and kills the terroir,’ claims Bálon. This is a team that doesn’t destem grapes, either. One effect of whole-bunch fruit is to provide a sense of freshness.

Others in the younger generation are moving in the same direction: Pérez of Mas Martinet is ageing more and more of her wines in demijohns and amphorae rather than wood or concrete, and she is also favouring successive picking dates stretching over as much as a month-and-a-half.

It’s also striking how many of Priorat’s younger winemakers tend to prize the later-ripening, lower-alchohol and generally higher-acid Carinyena over Garnatxa, though historically esteem lay in the opposite direction. ‘The Garnatxa on top of the hills was all planted by the rich people of the region,’ says Pérez. ‘The poor people’s vines were the Carinyena planted at the bottom of the slopes.’ It’s now generally recognised that Carinyena can cope with the hottest sites more effectively than Garnatxa.

Down to earth

What everyone is agreed on, though, is that the best place to solve any issues of balance is not the cellar but the vineyard.

Ester Nin, who looks after the Clos Erasmus vineyards on behalf of Daphne Glorian, says they have had a programme since 1985 aimed at creating sloping rather than terraced vineyards which permit higher planting densities, and that they have been working biodynamically and with intensive use of composts (their own composts since 2012) in order to improve the life, vitality and responsiveness of the soils.

This work, according to Nin, has paid off over the last four years; in particular the vines don’t suffer from drought stress as they used to. ‘We have managed to pick grapes with lower potential alcohol and better acidity at maturity compared to what we used to get,’ she says. ‘The soils here are very difficult, with very low levels of organic matter, so the composts really help.’

Winemaker Bixente Oçafrain at Mas Alta voices the general concern that summers in Priorat are growing steadily warmer. Old vines and north-facing exposures, he says, help in the quest for balance (full ripening is possible on almost any open slope in Priorat), ‘but our choice is to go towards organic and biodynamic cultivation; that seems to be the best way to get balance in terms of freshness and acidity’. The Mas Alta team cultivated 6ha biodynamically last year (out of a total of 45ha), and will double that this year.

Search for identity

Bordeaux wine merchant Christopher Cannan was an early believer in the potential of Priorat, having traded the wines of many of the initial pioneers; he eventually bought his own estate, Clos Figueras near Gratallops, releasing the first wine in 2000. Since 2002 he has been joined by his daughter Anne, an observer of the Priorat scene who is wise enough to put all these questions in context.

‘In Spain,’ she says, ‘everyone is always comparing themselves to other people, but I think it’s misguided. You’re different: that’s what matters. When we first began here, there was a lot of similarity of aspiration and of approach; everyone was trying to make big, impressive wines. Now actually there is a revolution, and everyone is doing things differently; everything is changing. It’s the start of finding out what Priorat really is.

‘It’s a bit like adolescence: one day you cry because you want to be like everybody else, and the next day you cry because you want to be different.’ So what does she, a woman brought up on Bordeaux and other global fine wines, think Priorat really is? ‘Priorat will always be full-bodied. If you want to try to make Burgundy here, you will always be fighting with nature.’

On the last afternoon of my visit, I stood up on the high costers (slopes) of Poboleda with Sandra Doix of Mas Doix, whose family has lived in the region for many generations. Her oldest Carinyena vines were planted by her great-great-grandfather, who remembered the village in its pre-phylloxera heyday when it had 2,000 inhabitants; today there are just 374.

Rounded masses of stone fell away on every side, and a cold dusk wind was tugging the last leaves of autumn from the sparsely planted vines. Those we were looking at were 110 years old; I wouldn’t have guessed they were any more than 30. A tough life means a thin trunk.

The family did plant Cabernet, Merlot and Syrah, but they are now gradually grafting the Cabernet and the Merlot back to Garnatxa and Carinyena. ‘It’s so hard for anything to grow here. We realised in the end that the traditional varieties are the best ones.’

‘Balance?’ she said, in answer to my question. ‘It comes from the fruit; only there.’ She looked around, in the fading November light. ‘We’re at almost 600m here; it’s always breezy because of the river Siurana, so we have a lot of acidity; sometimes I worry it’s too much. The key is to wait until the skins are truly ripe; that’s when you get the really good flavours, no matter what the sugars are. That is the sense of Priorat. We can’t have much impact on these vineyards; the landscape is too big and we’re too small. What we have to do is observe them, interpret them. But they will be what they are.’

Andrew’s top 15 Priorat reds:

A Decanter contributing editor, Andrew Jefford won the Louis Roederer International Columnist of 2016 for articles in Decanter and Decanter.com

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A once-scorned Mediterranean grape is being reborn as a fine wine, with classy cuvées emerging from Spain and France, discovers Miquel Hudin

As a wine drinker, to discover (or perhaps rediscover) Carignan is to happen upon a vinous jewel. The fine wines now being produced from this grape are usually the single-vineyard top cuvées in a winery’s portfolio. These are often expensive as a result, but they will also offer a new and exciting experience for anyone looking to broaden their drinking horizons.

Carignan is a name borrowed from French, but, depending upon your country of origin, you may know it as Bovale di Spagna, Cariñena, Carinyena, Mazuelo, Samsó or another synonym. The variety is actually Spanish in origin with its still-undetermined crossing having happened somewhere in the lower part of Aragón in Spain’s northeast, and possibly near the town of Cariñena, resulting in it taking the name. And while there are blanc and gris mutations, it’s the red variant of the grape that dominates plantings the world over.

Historical rise

Carignan spread overland from its point of conception, heading west to Rioja in Spain and then further northeast to the Côte d’Azur in France. It was then taken to Chile, Italy, Morocco, Israel and California, to name a few of its adopted homes. Plantings were expansive in the post-phylloxera period as Carignan was loved for what is actually its worst quality: over-production. Peasants of the past century planted it not on the premise of crafting fine wine, but because in the right conditions it could produce up to an enormous, though intensely bland 200hl/ha.

Throughout the 20th century, this was the commercial orientation of Carignan, and the vast bulk of the world’s supply was planted in Languedoc-Roussillon: the region of southern France that became synonymous with the European ‘wine lake’. In response, successive vine-pull schemes or replanting with ‘improving varieties’ (Grenache, Syrah and others) were enacted by a concerned EU.

But in sparse pockets with poor soils and forgotten vines, a massive rethink of the grape was underway, from the top of Languedoc and Roussillon in France down to the bottom of Catalonia in Spain. In these regions, the past two decades have shown that despite the name originating in Aragón (where Grenache is now dominant) its spiritual home lies along this swathe of Mediterranean appellations.

All in the handling

Carignan is a tedious grape to grow. Given its large, tight clusters and extremely long maturation cycle, it’s very prone to powdery mildew and bunch rot. It also needs poor, rocky soils and low rainfall to curb yields and increase its flavour concentration. While thousands of hectares exist, it’s the bush-trained old vines that are proving most exciting, as they give miserly yields of 1kg (even 300g) per vine of intensely flavoured grapes.

France has invested the most time and learning into understanding the grape. In Gruissan and Embres-et-Castelmaure, INRA (the French National Institute for Agricultural Research) has two vineyard conservatories that hold 233 cuttings taken from vineyards across the country. Overseen by Didier Viguier, they observe the cultivation of Carignan and work on eradicating vine viruses that are often rampant in older vineyards.

In both Languedoc and Roussillon, there is a tendency to pick Carignan early. Harvests in the third week of September aren’t unheard of and the reasoning is that this preserves flavour, though it seems the thinking is based upon Carignan reaching ideal sugar levels quickly during maturation. Unlike Grenache however, it doesn’t skyrocket in terms of potential alcohol and will stay below 15% in a ‘normal’ vintage, even if allowed to ripen longer.

With Carignan originating very near Catalonia, the winemakers there have been accustomed to it for centuries. The lengthy ripening avoided by the French is embraced by the Catalans and continues to be common, running into October or even early November for certain years and parcels. This makes for two very different profiles of the grape.

When aiming for a proper balance of flavours, most French winemakers find that non- intervention is not an option when working with Carignan. Laurent Maynadier of Château Champ des Soeurs will do all his alcoholic fermentation in stainless steel tanks, which can be the quickest way to end up with a reductive Carignan (that tell-tale smell of struck match) due to the juice not being able to breathe, but he says that it’s easy to deal with: ‘You just manage pump-overs as needed by moving the reductive part of the batch to mix with the oxidative at the top.’

While many Catalan producers use regular pump-overs, there is also a trend of open-top barrels, as well as experimentation with clay amphorae, as at Mas Martinet in Priorat. Wineries with very concentrated fruit, such as Vall Llach, also use concrete (tanks or eggs).

While not carrying out the intense scientific analysis of the French, Catalan producers have managed the grape very well to the point that varietal Carignans are often found in the top-level DOs including Priorat, Montsant, Empordà and Terra Alta. This is a marked contrast to France, where 100% Carignans must be sold under obscure regional IGPs or even the blossoming Vin de France category. There are those who favour the latter option, such as Jon Bowen of Domaine Ste Croix: ‘It allows you to have a conversation.’

Time to shine

Carignan is known for developing a wealth of tannins, acidity and colour, so it has typically been used as an excellent blending partner for Grenache, which can be lacking in these qualities. If not made with care, however, it can also be prone to rampant reduction during vinification. So, while a beautiful grape on its own, the wine must still be made carefully.

At their best, whether north or south of the Pyrenees, Carignan wines will usually display dark cherry fruit, blueberries, violet and other floral aromas along with notes of orange peel, black liquorice and cocoa. On the palate, the wines are very full-bodied with tannins that have a fine, dusty aspect and an acidity that presents a fresh and lively wine with excellent potential for ageing. It’s delicious paired with roast meats, duck and earthy root vegetables, but can overwhelm or potentially clash with strong cheeses.

The past 15 years of Carignan’s evolution haven’t come about by accident as a new generation has either opened new cellars or taken over from their parents. They’ve studied oenology instead of just inheriting the knowledge from their forefathers and are able to graft modern winemaking onto the old methods, which has in turn thrust this grape upon the world stage.

Just a few years ago, there was no thought that beautiful, complex wines might have been made from the Carignan grape, given its often thin profile when grown in Languedoc-Roussillon, or the rough abrasiveness in examples from Catalonia.

While it’s true that this kind of evolution is happening with countless grape varieties when given a splash of modernity, in the case of Carignan it has also meant waiting more than a century for old vines to shed their rustic past and be reborn in splendour.

Miquel Hudin is a wine writer based in Catalonia. He won Fortnum & Mason’s Best Drink Writer award for 2017

The 2010 earthquake off the coast of Maule has led to
seismic shifts in the attitudes and actions of winemakers throughout Chile. Peter Richards MW looks at how history has played a part in reshaping the country’s wine future.

It was the middle of the night when the earthquake struck – at 3:34am on 27 February 2010. At magnitude 8.8, this was one of the most powerful ever recorded, unleashing a tsunami and costing the lives of more than 500 people. The earthquake’s epicentre was just off the coast of the Maule region, one of Chile’s key wine centres, but its impact was global: not just on Californian ports and Japanese fisheries but also on international insurance firms and, via instant media coverage, to a worldwide news audience.

Living on a tectonic fault line fosters resilience. Despite major setbacks, the Chilean nation largely dusted itself off and carried on, just as businesslike (and fatalistic) as before. But some things were never quite the same, so the quake became a fitting metaphor for such contemporaneous changes.

Although the 2010 wine harvest was carried out in difficult circumstances and made excellent wines, seismic shifts of a more subtle nature were taking place in Chilean wine, whose real effects would take a few years to manifest.

It was as if the industry had gone back to the drawing board. It was a time when key winemakers began to re-evaluate the nature of their wines – stereotypically big reds and punchy whites – and seek inspiration not in international competition or markets but in their own history, geography and people.

‘We’re rescuing our history, our heritage,’ relates Fernando Almeda, head winemaker at Miguel Torres Chile. ‘Chilean wine has been developing so rapidly that we’ve lost sight of where we’ve come from.’ Ventisquero’s Felipe Tosso calls it ‘Chile’s maturing point’.

In the field

Chile has more winemaking history than is often acknowledged. The first vines are believed to have been planted in the mid-16th century – well before the marshlands of the Médoc were drained, for example – as Europeans arrived in Latin America. Quality was not a priority: the País grape, then widely planted, is thought to be descended from the largely undistinguished Listán Prieto of Spain and the Canary Islands. But the colonists did establish their vineyards in vine-friendly country that would have been familiar from home: rolling hillsides in temperate conditions close to the moderating influence of the sea.

The original heartland of Chilean wine is thought to be the coastal hills around the ports of Penco and Concepción, in what is now Itata. Visiting the area, the history is palpable. ‘In Itata, you breathe tradition,’ comments Almeda. The gnarly old vines tended by similarly weathered smallholders sprawl across a scented, undulating landscape.

This area of Chile has long either churned out homespun hooch or was quietly used by savvy winemakers as a source of decent but cheap fruit. No one talked about Itata. In 2010, influential winemaker Marcelo Retamal, backed by the progressive De Martino family, started moving away from what he felt were standardising forces in winemaking: practices like harvesting too ripe, using herbicides, over-extraction, new oak barrels, enzymes, cultured yeasts and micro-oxygenation. De Martino also launched a project, unique at the time, to champion the Itata region. Viejas Tinajas was a ground-breaking brand and the first wine an old-vine, dry-farmed Cinsault made with minimal intervention in clay tinajas (large amphorae without the handles). The first

vintage was 2011 and it has since been joined by a Muscat and Carignan.

On returning to Itata to get a feel for this alternative Chile, I found myself sitting at a table amid ancient bush vines (known locally as Corinto – they think they might be the white Chasselas), tasting through several vintages of the Viejas Tinajas Cinsault, some of which had been made with sulphur additions, some without. ‘Tinajas helped show there was another Chile,’ reflects Retamal. ‘A Chile of small vignerons with real history and identity;
a story to tell. People love these wines. As established producers, we can help give this movement momentum, visibility and commercial viability. Chile is changing.’

These days, Itata is a hive of winemaking activity. In addition to De Martino, the likes of García & Schwaderer, Rogue Vine, Pandolfi Price, Koyle, Montes and Tinto de Rulo are all names to watch, making thirst-quenching, expressive wines from scented Muscat to joyous, almost ephemeral reds. There’s an intriguing sparkling project (Itata Profundo) and even Chile’s biggest producer, Concha y Toro, recently joined the party, releasing a dangerously drinkable País-Cinsault blend under its Marqués de Casa Concha label, sourced from Maule and Itata.

Old varieties, new tricks

It’s not just the traditional regions, but also the old grape varieties that are getting a boost in Chile. País is a fascinating example. Having once dominated Chilean plantings (in the mid-
1990s, one Chilean vine in three was País), it waned as demand centred on international varieties. But now it is enjoying a renaissance, largely due to the efforts of Miguel Torres Chile and its winemaker Fernando Almeda.

It started almost as a social aid project. In an effort to help small-scale growers in the rural south, Torres launched a project to make a sparkling wine: País being suitable as a low-colour, relatively neutral, high-acid variety. The result was the Estelado rosé, which was well received by critics and got people talking. As well as setting up various Fairtrade alliances along the way, Almeda then moved onto a red País, the critically acclaimed Reserva de Pueblo – by which stage he noted how the project had evolved.

‘The truth is, I didn’t know País, I hadn’t worked with it, so I had no preconceptions,’ muses Almeda. ‘I looked at the terroir, talked to people, did trials. And I learned loads! Now we’ve changed the way we manage all our vineyards. And this has come from learning from País, which people said we could never make good wine from. That’s the fun of it!’

In addition to the likes of País and Cinsault, there are interesting revivals happening with old-vine Malbec, Muscat, Pedro Ximénez and Semillon, among other varieties, some of which have been overlooked or misidentified in mixed field plantings. One intriguing example is Romano, believed to be the same as César in Burgundy, which Santa Carolina is reviving as part of its heritage programme, the wine being wonderfully juicy and elegantly textured.

Another example, perhaps better known, is Carignan. While an increasing number of Chilean producers are making Carignan, nowhere is this revival more intriguing than with Vigno, the association of Carignan growers who have clubbed together to establish a shared trademark (or an alternative appellation, depending on your point of view).

The idea is that producers who buy into the concept and make wines according to the set rules get to use the Vigno brand (short for Vignadores de Carignan). The rules are: to use a minimum 65% Carignan from dry-farmed bush vines that are at least 30 years old and growing in Maule Secano, aged for a minimum of 24 months before release. Twelve wineries initially joined the scheme, which was launched in 2010, the brainchild of local wine journalist Eduardo Brethauer and Gillmore winemaker Andrés Sánchez. The latter describes it as: ‘A quantum leap forward for Chilean wine – selling Chile to the world via wines with a unique sense of place.’ That Concha y Toro has recently joined Vigno is a powerful vindication for this unique initiative.

Reviving Cabernet

For all the excitement over what might be termed the revival movement of alternative varieties, one task remains vital for Chilean wine: improving the quality and diversity of its Cabernet Sauvignon. This classic variety, which accounts for a whopping third of the national vineyard, is all too often blandly homogenous, over-ripe and overdone. Again, history is coming in useful.

Santa Carolina is pursuing a promising project to revive the spirit of the majestic, ageworthy, elegant Cabernets it was making in its Macul vineyard in the 1950s and 1960s. Although the Macul vineyards were long since bulldozed under Santiago’s urban sprawl, the winery is using old-vine material rescued from the original vineyards, harvesting early and ageing the wines in large oak foudres in an attempt to recreate the wine style that originally made Chile’s name on the world stage. The new wine is called Luis Pereira and the 2012 vintage is 13% alcohol with no acidification, cultured yeast or enzymes. ‘We want to make a wine that can develop well over 50 years,’ asserts viticulturist Alejandro Wedeles. ‘It’s not the commercial mainstream but it’s important for our future.’

Similarly, Concha y Toro’s Marcelo Papa is a winemaker rejuvenated. Visibly animated as he explains how he’s harvesting Cabernet a month earlier than he used to, he buzzes around his new den of tricks: a cellar filled with large Italian oak vats that will replace the small oak barrels as the major ageing vessels for Marqués de Casa Concha Cabernet. For one of Chile’s most successful wines, which has made its name for being rich, ripe and creamy, this is a bold statement.

‘It’s a new era – but one forged by going back 15 years,’ enthuses Papa. ‘It’s a big change of mindset: harvesting a month earlier, using foudres, making wines closer to 13.5%.’ He notes how, on his arrival at Concha in the late 1990s, Cabernet was typically picked with less than 14% potential alcohol. That rose to more than 15% by 2003, needing major winemaking intervention including acidification. Then, in 2010, he decided to follow the lessons of the past. ‘This is my new direction, and it’s going to open the minds of hundreds of people.’

Seismic shock

Rapid innovation, which has been a consistent feature of Chilean wine over the past few decades, can have its risks. As Veramonte winemaker Rodrigo Soto says: ‘We Chileans get over-excited easily. It’s good to develop diversity but we need to learn maturity, to work together and remember that quality in everything we do is crucial. Connecting the soil to the wine through good vineyard and winemaking practices is fundamental. Only then can we build a firm foundation for the future of Chilean wine.’

It’s not easy to build castles on a shifting landscape. Nonetheless, the recent seismic shifts in Chilean wine augur well for an increasingly diverse and delicious winemaking future by taking inspiration from a fascinating, complex past. Chilean wine is growing up. While it’s difficult to predict how this process will play out, all around the world, people are sitting up and taking notice.

'There’s an island spirit here,' said Gérard Bertrand’s viticulturalist Richard Planas, as we toured Limoux together. 'It’s an island inside a continent.' 'If Languedoc was Australia,' -- Jean-Louis Denois took the metaphor a little further -- 'we would be Tasmania.'

All that’s missing is encircling seawater. Instead, the cool Limoux shoreline is defined by altitude (no vineyard lower than 280m, and some which crest 500m), aspect (more east- and west-facing aspects than southerly ones) and wind (from the north-west). It’s a substantial wine island, though: Limoux in fact has four times as much land under vineyard as Tasmania (7,800 ha compared to 1,800 ha).

Most of that, of course, is used for the often admirable sparkling wines I wrote about last November, and which claim sixteenth-century antecedents. There are, though, still wines here too, of much more recent date. Production levels may be smaller (under 250 ha) but there is much to intrigue the curious drinker.

What most wine lovers know about Limoux’s whites, in part thanks to the success of the co-operative Sieur d’Arques ‘Toques et Clochers’ charity auction, is that the appellation regulations require them to be barrel-fermented. This innovation dates from the revision of Limoux’s still-white-wine AOC in 1993, the same moment at which Chenin and Chardonnay joined the traditional Mauzac as approved varieties, and was a brave move, given the cost implications. In the early years, it did indeed result in some over-oaky whites, but since neither the age of the oak nor the size of the barrel is specified, that moment has passed: you could use five-year-old 600-litre casks if you want, and the oak would be barely palpable. (Some in the region are agitating to have this requirement abandoned.)

It’s those varietal possibilities, in fact, rather than barrel fermentation which gives Limoux whites their key interest and confirms their ‘island’ status: no one else in southern France can do anything remotely similar while still producing appellation wine.

Most choose to work with Chardonnay. If you can imagine Chablis with a bigger bone structure mixed with 20 per cent dry Jurançon, you won’t be far off the best: their acid structure is definitely to the fore, but the sun of south develops more overt fruit flavours than you get further north. Gérard Bertrand’s Domaine de l’Aigle (once an investment by Burgundy’s Antonin Rodet) provides a benchmark, though the high-altitude, prestige Aigle Royale seems a little overworked and in 2013 I prefer the straight Limoux Chardonnay. Denois’ own Domaine de la Borde Longue may well be the finest crafted of all (the 2012 Sainte Marie is balanced, vinous and classical), and the chance to taste a small vertical of Chardonnays from Domaine de Mouscaillo showed that Limoux whites can age well: the 2006 and 2011 were both poised, fresh, pithy whites, impressively preserved.

Personally, I’m less impressed with the Chenin Blanc whites, though local growers love the variety’s acid-retention abilities (‘it can take you 500 km north of here,’ says Denois, as well as ‘dissolving the taste of the barrique’). A pure-Mauzac is an act of daring, as it’s not easy to sell, but the two I tried on my visit were both fascinating: the 2013 Occitania from Rives Blanques was far more complex than the ‘appley’ reputation of Mauzac would suggest (green plum and summer vegetables, as well as some welcome cream from lees contact), while former rugby-player Franck Schisano’s 2012 Consolament was no less impressive, though more secondary, with a vinous, almost honeyed palate, showing the expressive width of the variety. Blends, too, can be exciting, especially Rives Blanque’s prestige La Trilogie: the 2012 was subtle and complete as well as lively and svelte – and how often can you say that about a Languedoc white?

When you come to the red wines of Limoux, though, this is an island in scission, like Cyprus. The red AOC dates from 2004, and came into being thanks to the elegant, kid-gloved clout of the late Baroness Philippine de Rothschild, who had purchased an estate at St-Polycarpe (re-named Baron’arques), initially to make red wine. It seemed to the Rothschild team that the kind of Atlantic-Mediterranean hybrid blend also used in nearby Cabardès and Malpére was right for Limoux: the final mix chosen was 50 per cent Merlot mixed with Malbec, Syrah and Grenache (30 per cent minimum) and smaller quantities of the two Cabernets and Carignan. The red wines of Baron’arques have been excellent: real finesse from the Languedoc, where that can be an elusive quality, though they are very hard wines to place in a blind tasting.

Other growers, though, increasingly favour Pinot Noir for still red Limoux – despite the fact that this has to go to market as IGP Haute Vallée de l’Aude. ‘If we were doing the appellation regulations all over again,’ says Richard Planas, who worked on drawing up the original set of rules, ‘I would make Limoux Rouge a Pinot Noir AOC’. The singing quality of Pinot Noir fruit in Limoux can be impressive, and the wines are authentically pale, poised, fresh and lively: perhaps the best shot with this variety from anywhere in France south of the Chalonnais (with more depth and tenacity than most examples from the Auvergne, and better natural articulation than Corsican Pinot). Aigle and Mouscaillo both make good examples.

I have two reservations about both Limoux whites and Haute Vallée de l’Aude Pinot Noirs, though. The first is that they are often over-acidic and lack balancing softness and charm. (Maybe this is because producers are accustomed to seeking and sustaining acidity levels for sparkling base wines, which need an edgier balance than still wines.)

And the second is the quality they share, in fact, with many other Languedoc wines: a faintly bitter finish. In a classic Languedoc red, this either passes unnoticed, or is liked, since it is easy to assign it to the ‘herbal, garriguey’ side of the Languedoc character. In the high-altitude, fruited limpidity of Limoux, though, a bitter note tends to stand out more, or bond ungratefully with the pronounced acidity. These attractive wines would be better off without both of these minor blemishes.

Concha y Toro has become the latest major name to join Vigno, a small group of wineries dedicated to the revival of the Carignan grape in Chile’s Maule region.

Carignan wine from the Vigno project. Image credit: Vigno.

Vigno – Vignadores de Carignan – was founded in 2011, the brainchild of a group of like-minded pioneers led by Andres Sanchez of Maule producer Gillmore; he is the current president. The idea was to preserve and celebrate old-vine Carignan in Maule, whose vineyards were devastated by the 2010 earthquake.

Vigno is run as an appellation, with strict rules governing production and labelling of wines.

The wines must use a minimum of 65% Carignan, with the balance made up of old-vine varieties, from Maule’s secano interior, where there is no irrigation. The Carignan must be at least 30 years old and dry farmed, and the wine must be aged for two years before release.

Vigno now has 15 members including Concha y Toro, whose winemaker Marcelo Papa said the company wanted to help the organisation to expand.

A further requirement of membership is that the wine must be called Vigno. Concha y Toro said its version of the wine was made with ‘grapes from very old head-trained vines, dry-farmed in the Maule Valley…on red clay soils that are poor in nutrients’.

Other members include Miguel Torres, Undurraga, Casa Lapostolle, Valdivieso, and Jackson Family Wines.

See also:

• Read Andrew Jefford’s column on Vigno

Written by Adam Lechmere

A shortage of grapes in the Spanish wine regions of Priorat and Mallorca has led to a surge in prices and is causing concern among some producers.

Image credit: Jordi Roque / Wikipedia

Rising demand for grapes in Priorat – already the source of some of Spain’s most expensive wines – has caused a spike in grape prices, said Valenti Llagostera, from Mas Doix, one of the area’s leading red wine producers.

Producers were paying 3 euros ($3.1) per kilo, and in some cases as much as 6 euros per kilo, for red grape varieties, he said.

A study from Catalonia’s Technological Wine Park shows that in 2013, the average price for the Carignan grapes was 1.79 euros per kilo with Grenache selling at 1.4 euros per kilo.

It remains unclear what the situation will mean for retail wine prices for consumers.

‘There is a shortage of grapes,’ Llagostera told Decanter.com on the sidelines of the Decanter Mediterranean Fine Wine Encounter in London last weekend.

‘We produce 30,000 bottles of our Les Crestes wine, for example, and we would like to produce 60,000 bottles, but the shortage means this is not possible.’

Priorat’s regulatory council declined to comment on the issue. A spokesperson said official data on the average prices per kilo was not yet available.

Similar concerns over grape shortages have been voiced from producers on the island of Mallorca.

‘There is a fight on for grapes,’ said Eloi Cedo, a former oenologist in Priorat who is now winemaker at 4 Kilos in Felanitx, Mallorca.

‘When I phone suppliers for grapes, they say my lot has been bought by another producer. We need to make the same quantities of wine each year and now there is no guarantee we can do this.’

Written by Barnaby Eales

Rioja is all things to all wine lovers: from simple unoaked wines, through traditional Tempranillos aged in American oak, to more modern blends and terroir-driven examples. Sarah Jane Evans MW examines the styles.

Rioja styles: The many faces of Rioja

The story begins in 1980. Until that year there was no official categorisation of Riojas into crianza, reserva and gran reserva. Any wine bottled and labelled pre-1980 simply bore the vintage year. It might be an oak-aged reserva style, or a simple maceración carbonica (made using the same method as a young Beaujolais). Jump forward another 20 years or so and a new wave of modern Riojas appeared. Unlike the traditional ones, these did not carry any age guarantee.

Now leap forward another 15 years. Today’s tastes focus on grape varieties and terroir. With the passing of the decades the simple outlines of Rioja became blurred. However 35 years on, it looks like the picture is coming back into focus.

Traditional vs modern

The cliché of a traditional Rioja is a wine with extended ageing in American oak, made from a field blend of grapes majoring on Tempranillo. It is light- to medium-bodied, moderate in alcohol and develops a patina of age which is wonderfully harmonious and elegant. There are still a good number of these fine old wines stored in bodegas across Rioja, and Spanish restaurants with specialist cellars are still selling them at remarkably low prices. The wines do not appear often at auction internationally, though interest is growing. Interested, enthusiastic retailers may have selections – The Sampler in London is one such with a specialist interest: it stocks CVNE’s Viña Real 1970 for £108 – a lovely year.

But how will today’s traditionally made Riojas be 50 years from now? The wines have changed. Even the most classical producer pays more attention to the vineyard and to the winery. Many traditional wines show a modern polish – typical of the two gran reservas I’ve recommended.

What set the new-wave Riojas apart was their densely coloured, super-concentrated character, which won new fans who liked bold, fruity reds. These wines were a result of a new focus on the vineyard, including specific clonal studies (such as those carried out by Roda, for instance), reduced yields, fermentation in small, separate lots and ageing in French oak. Very often these wines were single-varietal Tempranillo. They were released after a shorter time in barrel and bottle. While this was a stylistic effect, it undoubtedly made them financially more attractive to the producer, with the quicker return on investment.

Clarity from complexity

Thankfully those years of inky, overly sweet and overoaked Riojas are more or less behind us. Today the region offers a glorious diversity of choice, though it does require as much study as any fine wine region would. To start with oak: gran reserva producers are using a blend of French and American oak; so too are the former 100% new French oak producers. The overt use of oak is calming down, to produce more integrated, more complex wines.

When it comes to the grape variety, there are plenty of modern producers offering 100% Tempranillo. My personal preference is for a blend. There is nothing intrinsically better in having one variety, apart from the fact that it is easier to explain on the label. Mazuelo (Carignan), Garnacha and Graciano have long played a small but useful part. So too has Cabernet Sauvignon, which first came to Rioja with Marqués de Riscal in 1862. Recent years have shown a trend towards single-variety versions of some of these ‘lesser’ grapes. Contino’s Graciano is undoubtedly the most successful, especially for what is a notoriously difficult grape to manage. Garnacha, from warmer parts of Rioja, has long been used for blending by producers in the altogether cooler zone of Rioja Alta. Now the variety has the powerful support of Alvaro Palacios, who is busy restoring the quality and reputation of the variety in Alfaro at the far eastern tip of Rioja. Look out for Valmira, the ‘very Burgundian, very perfumed’ single-vineyard, old-vine Garnacha, which he will be launching this spring. Much more recent arrivals in the vineyard are Maturana Tinta, which gives reds with good acidity; and Tempranillo Blanco, a genetic mutation, which promises to deliver full-bodied whites with freshness. It takes time, though, for cuttings to be grown on and to be established in any quantity.

The search for terroir

The latest trend is in one sense nothing new at all. This is the rise of a new generation of producers who are most interested in expressing the character of their vineyards. Bush vines, old vines, much less new oak, are all characteristic of their styles. It’s complicated because Rioja is a geologically complex area. It ranges across calcareous clay soils, through alluvial soils and ferrous clay, lying between two mountain ranges, on either side of the River Ebro.

Simply put, Rioja Alta to the west is higher, often showing more moderate wines with bright fruit. North of the river, Rioja Alavesa gives fuller bodied, fresher wines, and is a Tempranillo stronghold. Rioja Baja, to the east is warmer, lower, drier (irrigation is permitted here), more Mediterranean, and can offer the richest wines with the most alcohol.

While some big producers prefer to blend across vineyards, others prefer to express their individual terroirs, producers such as Benjamin Romeo, David Sampedro Gil, Olivier Rivière, Abel Mendoza and Telmo Rodriguez. Look beyond both the ultra low-priced, anonymous high street brands and, at the other extreme, the ridiculously weighty bottles containing overly oaked wines. In between there’s a broad and diverse spectrum. Pour a glass and reflect on the saying that all tradition was once innovation. Nowhere is this more true than Rioja.

See Sarah Jane Evans’ top 25 Riojas on the shelves at the moment

Written by Sarah Janes Evans MW

Even the most moderate consumer of on-line wine-writing last year must have read somewhere or other about Vigno: Chile’s ‘Vignadores de Carignan’. This was partly a tribute to the Association’s roving ambassador, Derek Mossman Knapp, and his laid-back, understated but burr-like Canadian tenacity, but the main reason why my distinguished confrères pounced on the story was that it was a irresistible antidote to Chile’s sometimes bland image.

(Pic: Maule Carignan growers called Nivaldo Morales and his wife Otelia. Credit: Matt Wilson)

(In fact Chilean wine is less corporately dominated than is sometimes thought: the top 10 companies only account for 47.8% of exports. Concha y Toro may be a giant, but it exported less than 18% of Chilean wine over the last 12 months.)

The Vigno pitch featured old vines and downtrodden growers; a previously overlooked area (Maule) and grape variety; and small producers joining hands with larger ones in a venture in which they willingly put their own brands in the back seat for the greater good of all. If the wines had been dreadful, it would still have been worth a piece.

The indefatigable Mossman Knapp tracked me down in my Languedoc lair in early February, clutching a case of Vigno Carignans; they weren’t dreadful at all. More of that in a minute, but let me briefly resume the story.

It began with Chile’s deadliest earthquake: the one which shook the cities of Chillán and Concepción shortly before midnight on January 24th 1939, snuffing out the lives of around 28,000 people. Chillán lies just to the south of Maule, Chile’s biggest production zone, and in the replanting which followed, consulting technicians suggested Carignan rather than the ubiquitous País. Hence the old vines — which, significantly, tended to be in the hands of smallholders, and dry-grown. Of Chile’s 800 ha of Carignan, 584 ha lie in Maule.

Then came the 2010 earthquake, whose epicenter this time was just off the coast of Maule. Mossman Knapp was working on a book at the time, and by chance found himself helicoptered to the worst-hit areas. What could be done to help? Well, how about making a thing of Carignan? It would provide an outlet for fruit for those who most needed it, and the proceeds could help replant and rebuild. Those involved, in fact, had been lunching on the idea for some years, and wines already existed; the earthquake tipped them into cohesive action.

I smiled as I tasted the first wine: the 2008 Eclat Vigno from Valdivieso. Only from Chile could Carignan smell and taste like this. In place of the spiky acerbity we are familiar with down here in the Languedoc, this smelled sweet, warm, ripe and nourishing; the fruits were even blackcurranty. I’d always considered that a Cabernet trigger, but perhaps it’s the smell and taste of vines in Chile more generally. (Likewise my first sniff recently, fresh from the airport, of a handful of Californian Cabernets instantly reminded me of Zinfandel – until I realized that that gorgeously sweet berry fruit was the scent of Californian red wine itself …)

The closest we got to spikiness was perhaps the young 2011 Vigno from Mossmann Knapp’s own Garage Wine Co (made by his wife, winemaker Pilar Miranda) – lighter, brighter, sharper and pushier than its peers, with a little of the acidic incision I associate with this variety – and the 2009 Gillmore Vigno, which had bittersweet fruit and plenty of athletic thrust to it. My three top marks went to the plump 2010 De Martino Vigno (plump Carignan!); the saline, scrub-and-pine-scented 2009 Meli Vigno (maximum terroir here) and, best of all, Torres’ 2009 Cordillera Carignan Vigno – full of singing blackcurrant and blackberry fruits, but magnificently textured and truffled also. It’s rare to find Carignan this complete.

Were these the best Chilean wines I have tasted in the last 12 months? I couldn’t say that. Concha y Toro’s 2008 Gravas del Maipo Syrah is a wine of wonderfully opulence and pure drinking luxury; the 2008 Santa Rita Casa Real Old Vines Cabernet, also from Maipo, is very different: a concentrated essence of Cabernet fruits, with reverberative purity and length; while the 2007 Espíritu de Apalta from Neyen had a secondary complexity and profundity which every producer in Chile should be looking for. These Carignans were good, but not that good.

Mossman Knapp then saddled up his pack mule and lashed on the box of wines — to blind-taste against some of Languedoc’s leading Carignans with a group of Languedoc wine-makers and consultants in a nearby village. Interestingly, that group found more varietal similarities than I did, though they also observed that no one needed to resort to carbonic maceration (as often happens in Languedoc) to give Carignan a bit of roundness and sweet flesh in Chile. Because Chile, of course, had already provided it.

Written by Andrew Jefford

JIM BUDD uncovers a Carignan revival and continuing modernisation in the Corbières region.

My first visit to Corbières was in May 1989. Although the region was already starting to change dramatically, the past 11 years have seen some acceleration. The reputation of Carignan has been considerably restored, an increasing number of people from other parts of France and Europe have been attracted to Corbières, there have been significant new plantings, a far greater use of air-conditioning in barrel chais and warehouses, and a considerable widening of the range of wines offered.

https://www.decanter.com/premium/the-rise-of-carignan-381957/

Corbières got full appellation status in 1985, but the price of AC entry was to cut drastically the area classified from 44,000ha (hectares) to the present day 19,000. Even so Corbières is the largest appellation in Languedoc-Roussillon with 15,000ha of the 19,000 classified in production. There are more than 2,240 producers, 38 caves cooperatives and 301 individual properties.The topography of the land varies between flat and ruggedly mountainous. Close to Narbonne and around the bay of Sigean there are vines just metres from the sea. In the south of the Corbières around the village of Cucugnan it is wild and mountainous. Then in the west there are steep vineyards around the Montagne d’Alaric. This means considerable variations in climate. The hotter areas are those close to the Mediterranean and in the broad valley of the Aude around Lézignan and the higher vineyards in the centre of the Corbières. Further west around the Montagne d’Alaric the influence of the Mediterranean is tempered by the Atlantic.Over the last decade there has been considerable emphasis on classifying the distinct areas within Corbières. Eleven different terroirs were launched with considerable fanfare in 1991. Unfortunately it is now freely acknowledged that, although there is a lot of diversity within the Corbières, there are not 11 distinct terroirs and that some were created for political reasons to satisfy local pride. None of the different terroirs have yet been recognised by the INAO, though Boutenac is the most likely to be the first to be given the right to add its name to that of Corbières. Whether there will ever be a Boutenac AC, as some would like to see, is another question altogether. Several of the western terroirs, such as Montagne d’Alaric, Serviès and Termenès, are considering amalgamating.

Unfortunately the further classification work required to satisfy the INAO set up tensions within the Corbières producers. Four different groups were formed – Syndicat de Cru Corbières, Syndicat de Haut Expression, Cru Signées and Hommes et Terroirs. There is not the space to go into the intricacies of the sometimes vicious wine politics of Corbières or the shifting alliances among the leading protagonists. Suffice to say that perhaps the central issue was whether the classification should be done solely by terroir alone, the Burgundian model, or to include the reputation of the producers concerned, the Bordeaux model. Fortunately, although there are still four associations, hostilities have abated. However, the Corbières producers did spend far too much time over the last decade fighting among themselves rather than concentrating on the increasing fierce competition from around the world.

In the latter half of the 1980s much talk was of planting les cépages améliorateurs, principally Grenache, Mourvèdre and Syrah, to replace the widely planted and despised Carignan. The official view at the time was that Carignan was a weed and that high quality would not be possible until much of it had been rooted out. Fifteen years later the view is rather different. ‘It is good to guard Carignan when all Languedoc is moving to Grenache and Syrah,’ says Louis Panis of Château de Vieux Parc.

It has been recognised that old vine Carignan with restricted yields can produce high quality. And in certain parts, especially around Boutenac, it is well suited to the dry climate. Syrah works best further west, particularly in the region of Serviès where it is a little cooler. Mourvèdre has been found to be very temperamental because it only grows and ripens properly in certain sites.The tradition has been to vinify Carignan using carbonic maceration to emphasise the fruit while limiting tannin extraction. However, an increasing number of producers are using classic fermentation for Carignan, especially for top cuvées. Such has been the revaluation of Carignan in Corbières that a few producers are now replanting and more are considering doing so as almost all the Carignan planted in the region (that survived the grubbing up frenzy) is now at least 30 years old. The commonly-held theory is that Carignan is only able to produce interesting fruit once it is at least 30 years old, yet not every producer agrees. ‘I think that if it is planted in the right terroir and the yields are restricted, then even young Carignan will produce good results,’ argues Arnaud de Lamy of Domaine Fontarêche (Lézignan) who is considering replanting. ‘It is often the best vine here,’ he adds.Another clear change in the vineyards is that, increasingly, vines are trellised rather than shaped in the traditional gobelet. This is often an indication that the vineyard is planted with Syrah, whose exuberant growth is fragile. Unsecured shoots are likely to be broken by the wind which blows on average 300 days a year. If the wind isn’t from the east (Marin – hot and humid) it comes from the north-north west (Cers – cooler and drying). Occasionally as light relief it blows from the south.Certainly the standards of viticulture have risen as a tasting of 37 wines from 1985 to 1999 held in mid-June by the Syndicat Haute Expression showed. As well as demonstrating that a 15-year-old Corbières (Château La Baronne), the sole 1985 shown and made from 100% Carignan, remained drinkable, it showed that fruit quality has also improved. For the vintages from 1985 to 1991 the average alcohol level was 12.35% compared with 13.28% in 1998 and 1999. Clearly producers now have access to riper fruit either by picking later, or by reducing yields and so advancing maturity. This change reflects the increased emphasis now being placed on the vineyards.

Over the past decade a number of people both from within France and other European countries have decided to come to Corbièresto grow grapes and make wine. Some like the late Peter Sichel, one of the first to invest in the region, have come with long experience of winemaking. Others come with no experience, only a passion to try. As well as its beauty and climate, Corbières remains one of the cheapest places in France to buy a vineyard.

Peter and Susan Munday (Domaine des Chandelles) came from Croydon, Robert Baudoin bought Château Hélène after working as a négociant in Asia-Pacific, Alain Devillers gave up a job in the Ministry of Finance for the Prieuré Borde Rouge, Eric Piroux gave up being a hotelier in Le Touquet to join two Bordeaux friends in buying Château Villerouge La Crémade, and Guido Jansegers and Marie-Annick de Witte left careers in journalism and insurance in Belgium to buy Château Mansenoble.In the late 1980s and early 1990s, wineries bought new presses and stainless steel tanks, yet it is only more recently that they began introducing insulation and air conditioning into the barrel chais and storage areas. Typical is Panis (Château de Vieux Parc) who is just finishing a new semi-underground warehouse which includes a small tasting area. ‘It is all completely insulated,’ he says. ‘I want to see how constant the temperature is before going to the expense of adding air-conditioning.’Interestingly, although some old concrete vats at Frédéric Roger’s négociant business in Lézignan have been sliced open to hold barrels, concrete is coming back into favour for red wine vinification as the temperature can be more constant than stainless steel.

https://www.decanter.com/wine-travel/united-kingdom/top-london-wine-bars-as-chosen-by-the-experts-293983/

The number of different cuvées offered has increased considerably and so, too, has the range of prices. There are now some prestige cuvées that retail for more than 100FF (£9.20). Some like le C de Camplong (Les Vignerons de Camplong) at 105FF (£9.65) certainly justify their price tag. Others such as La Forge, an individual vineyard of Domaine de Villemajou, at 200FF (£18.40), offer poor value. Le C de Camplong is one of the cuvées vinified under the guidance of Michel Tardieu and Dominique Laurent. They are also working with three other caves cooperatives – Embres et Castelmaure, Celliers de St Martin and Ornaisons as well as some individual estates including Château de l’Horte and Château Vieux Moulin.

‘Corbières lacks the madmen (les fous) that you find in other parts of the Languedoc,’ says Alain Devillers of Château de Prieuré Borde Rouges. I take Devillers to mean that Corbières is yet to have a quality obsessed maverick. He is probably right but Corbières is a source of an increasing number of good wines at generally very reasonable prices.

Recommended producers:

n Château Cascadais (Saint-Laurent de la Cabrerisse) Tel: +33 4 68 44 01 44

Philippe Courrian bought this beautiful,

isolated property in 1992.

n Château de I’Ile (Peyriac de Mer)

Tel: +33 4 68 41 05 96

Property right on the Bay of Sigean.

One of the cuvées is made for

Vignerons et Passions (Jeanjean group)

n Château de l’Horte Tel: +33 4 68 43 91 70 Consistent high quality.

n Château Hélène (Barbaira) Tel: +33 4 68 79 00 69

Recently changed hands – one to watch.

n Château de Lastours (Portel de Corbières) Tel: +33 4 68 48 29 17

Probably the best known individual Corbières producer, consistent quality.

n Château St Auriol Tel: +33 4 68 58 15 15 Well known consistent property.

n Château les Palais (Saint-Laurent de la Cabrerisse) Tel: +33 4 68 44 01 63

Long established family run estate.

n Domaine la Voulte-Gasparets (Boutenac) Tel: +33 4 68 27 07 86

Long one of the leaders in Corbières. Cuvée Romain Pauc is the top wine.

co-op/Producer

n Val d’Orbieu: Cellier de Charles Cros, Château de Ribauté and Domaine de Serres-Mazard. Tel: +44 20 7736 3350

Largest Languedoc group of co-ops and estates – distributed under individual names. Source of own label wines.

Dynamic co-operatives

n Cave d’Embres et Castelmaure. Tel: +33 4 68 45 91 83

n Vignerons de Camplong Tel: +33 4 68 43 60 86

n Celliers de St Martin (Roquefort des Corbières): +33 4 68 48 21 44