Côtes du Roussillon

The putative partnership of Languedoc and Roussillon has been one of convenience and geographical contiguence, rather than of any stylistic or cultural synergy. Roussillon lies at the southern edge of Mediterranean France, its climate informed by the Pyrenes and its outlook aimed towards Catalonia. Perhaps a not entirely unrelated phenomenum lies in the fact that it has not been especially well served by the French Appellation Contrôlée system with Collioure being the only table wine designation and Côtes Du Roussillon, established as late as 1979, serving as a rather vague umbrella for everything else.

Where  the wines were once rustic and often oxidised, they are now rich and infinitely interesting. The famous fortified wines of Banyuls, Maury and Rivesaltes  certainly show off the wonders of Grenache and Muscat; one should not forget the table wines, whites from altitude with extraordinary minerality and fresh acidity and reds which are often reminiscent of their lofty cousins over the border in Priorat.