Wine and Spirits Travel

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

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

It was a day full of beautiful surprises as I got to see incredible scenery while exploring the wine region of Roussillon . I started the day with my favorite French breakfast of yogurt, fruit and pan au chocolat. I never eat the same thing for breakfast at home, but this seems to work well to start a day of wine tasting. Virginie Hurault from Vins du Roussillon picked me up at the Hotel Metropole in Perpignan for our trip to the mountains and the sea, further into the south of France. The scene was like nothing I had scene. There were vineyards up mountains and in what looked like black dirt. The Mediterranean Sea was a glimmering turquoise and the houses on the hillside were unmistakably European. Our first stop was at a small store in Banyuls sur Mer, where we met with Jean-Francois Deu, owner of Domaine du Traginer .  The shop also sold other local wines and we tasted a few. I was taken with the 2007 Domaine du Traginer Collioure Blanc, a buttery vanilla whi

The weather was not cooperating the way we wished, with clouds and rain most of the day. It didn’t put a damper on my day as I had waited a long time to get to this area and was excited to be in the South of France. Eric Aracil, Export Manager, Conseil Interprofessionnel des Vins du Roussillon , picked me up for a full day of wine tasting in the Roussillon region. He apologized for the weather and explained how unusual it was since this area actually gets 320 sunny days per year. I listened to him talk with pride as I enjoyed the beautiful landscape changing in front of the mountains. There were areas of green, but also many spots where it looked like the vines were growing right out of black! These are just a few of the things that make Roussillon unique from other French wine areas. Our first stop was at Domaine Piquemal , a family-owned winery that was now in the hands of the fifth generation, Marie Pierre Piquemal. She greeted us in the brand new building that now

It was an uneventful start to the long trip from home to the city of Perpignan in the wine region of Roussillon , France. I didn’t get upgraded on the American Airlines flight, but I did get a seat in the emergency row so I was able to spread out a little and get a bit of sleep. I had plenty of time before my afternoon flight, which was a good thing since I had to change in Paris from Charles de Gaulle to Orly Airport. That trip wasn’t quite so uneventful as a disruly passenger on the bus held us up quite a bit. I’d like to tell you what it was about, but my limited French could not come close to translating that conversation! From Orly, I took a short flight to the south of France, where Roussillon is located between the  Pyrenees  Mountains and the Mediterranean Sea. It was my first visit to this region and I was excited about checking out another area of French wine. I would soon learn that this was much different than any other I had visited. I had a chance to r