Marcia Frost

On the way to Roussillon , I flew through Paris, but I was excited to have the opportunity to fly back through Barcelona. I had been to Spain before. This was my first trip, though, to this vibrant city and I’m so glad I was able to squeeze it in. It was a short one and a half hour train ride from Perpignan in Roussillon, France, to Barcelona, Spain . I enjoyed the scenery as we went by, but I was anxious to arrive at my destination. I only had until the next morning before I was flying home. The train station was busy, but it didn’t take me long to find a cab to my hotel, the Catalonia Plaza Cataluna . I was pleased that Wines of Roussillon had chosen this location for me as it was central to the city. It even had two things I don’t get often in Europe, a bathtub and king size bed. I quickly freshened up and asked the concierge for my best walking route to see the city. He pointed me to La Rambla, which was just a block away. From there I was able to head to the Got...

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Eric Aracil, Export Manager, Conseil Interprofessionnel des Vins du Roussillon , was there to greet me first thing in the morning at Hotel Metropole in Perpignan. It was my last day in this wine region and we had lots of wine to taste. It was another scenic drive as I once again saw the diversity in the soil of this area between the Pyrenees Mountains and the Mediterranean Sea. We were actually heading closer to the mountains into the driest area in Roussillon. Our first stop was at Domaine La Casenove in Trouillas , where the Montes family and winemaker Jean-Luc Colombo had managed to make wine from a land filled with clay and pebbles. They had a lot of practice in doing so as this family had been here for more than 400 years. I liked the selection of wines at Domaine La Casenove, which included dry reds like syrah and the sweeter muscat. The Muscat de Rivesaltes is dessert wine perfected, with notes of honey, apricot and kiwi. Our ride to Domaine de Nidoler...