ROUSSILLON

Roussillon is so often lumped somewhat unceremoniously in with the Languedoc, as one large region, when in reality it has a completely separate identity. Its history and traditions are quite different. It was part of Spain until the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659; Catalan, not Occitan, is spoken in the villages around Perpignan and the original reputation of the wines of Roussillon was based on what are rather clumsily called vin doux naturels, fortified wines, usually made from very ripe and therefore alcoholic Grenache grapes.

Table wines, or vins secs as they are called in the region, are a relatively recent development. The first appellations – Banyuls, Maury and Rivesaltes – were all vin doux, recognised among the early appellations in France at the end of the 1930s; the first appellation for vin sec was Collioure in