📍 Roussillon

Roussillon is a wine region in the far south of France, a former territory of Catalonia that became part of France under the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659. It lies on the border with Spain: a wide amphitheatre backed by the Pyrenees and open to the Mediterranean Sea. The climate is typically Mediterranean, bright and hot, with dry summers and frequent wind.

Roussillon is known for its vins doux naturels, natural sweet wines. They are made by mutage: neutral alcohol of wine origin is added to the fermenting must, which stops fermentation and leaves part of the grape sugar in the wine. Banyuls and Rivesaltes are such appellations. Banyuls is made in four communes of the Côte Vermeille, Banyuls-sur-Mer, Collioure, Port-Vendres and Cerbère, on steep slopes of brown schist where the Pyrenees drop into the sea. Dry wines are also made here, such as Collioure from the same communes and Côtes du Roussillon, red, rosé and white.

The main grapes are Grenache (black, grey and white), Carignan, Mourvèdre, Syrah, Macabeu and Tourbat, locally called malvoisie du Roussillon; Lledoner Pelut is also allowed. Côtes du Roussillon wines are always blends of at least two grapes.

Roussillon is part of the large Languedoc-Roussillon region in southern France. Both sweet and dry wines are made here, and they are very different in style. As with any alcohol, they should be drunk in moderation.