Winemaker Notes
Fragrant nose of ripe blackberries, plums, anise, pepper and herbs. Spicy and silky on the palate, echoing the nose with ripe fruits and herbs, silky tannins and a long finish.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
All old vine Carignan, the 2019 Côtes Catalanes Tessellae from Jean-Marc Lafage offers a beautifully pure nose of red and blue fruits, brambly herbs, violets, and leather. This carries to a medium to full-bodied red with silky tannins, no hard edges, and a great finish. It has impressive purity as well as elegance and is going to keep for 2-4 years.
Barrel Sample: 90-92 -
Decanter
Intriguing scents of leafy red fruits with peppery raspberries. Plush and voluptuous on the palate with a soft acidity.
Responsible for some of the most stunning old vine red wine on the planet, Carignan has an amazing capacity to survive dry, arid climates and still produce lovely, mouthwatering wine. In Spain it goes by the name of Mazuelo or Cariñena and while it may have originated there in the province of Aragón, its popularity lies elsewhere, particularly in Languedoc-Roussillon. Somm Secret—Historically Carignan did not enjoy the respect that it does today. In the mid 20th century, Carignan covered nearly 140,000 ha in Algeria, where it was made into low quality bulk and blending wine to supply mass-market demand.
Although it is a region predominantly recognized for fortified, vins doux naturels (a type of sweet wine), Roussillon is also ideal for the production of dry red, white and rose wines. To encompass all the dry wines from the surrounding region that are not the vins doux naturels of Banyuls, Maury and Rivesaltes, the appellation of Côtes du Roussillon was created in 1977. It covers the eastern half of the Pyrénées-Orientales (the eastern side of the Pyrenees Mountains) and lower lands of Roussillon. Côtes du Roussillon includes complex soils of schist, limestone, gneiss and granite and climatic conditions that support many grape varieties.
Côtes du Roussillon red wines are blends made from Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre and smaller amounts of Carignan, Cinsault and the lesser known, Lledoner Pelut. Rosé wines come from the same varieties, as well as may include Grenache Gris and Macabeo. White wines from Côtes du Roussillon are Grenache Blanc and Macabeo with small amounts of Marsanne, Roussanne and Rolle (aka Vermentino).