interview

<p><strong>You&rsquo;re originally from the region and from a viticultural family right?</strong></p> <p>I&rsquo;m from the region but not exactly from a <glossary term="Viticulture" title="1103">viticultural</glossary> family. I was born and raised in&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Collioure" title="319">Collioure</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> my grandfather was the last fisherman of the village. Back then, it was traditional for fisherman to own vines as a second occupation; the winter season was much slower for fish so it was something else to do. So I&rsquo;ve always been around vines, doing <glossary term="Harvest" title="521">harvests</glossary> every year. Pretty much everyone worked for the <glossary term="Cave Cooperative" title="252">cave cooperative</glossary> of&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Banyuls" title="135">Banyuls</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> at the time all the grapes went into making the&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Vin Doux" title="1095">vin doux</glossary><span>.</span></span></span></p> <p><strong>How much land did your grandfather have?</strong></p> <p>Back then every family had two or three&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Hectare" title="523">hectares</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> it was a complementary activity and not seen as a full time job. When my grandfather got older, it was his brother-in-law who started taking care of the vines. He had about eight&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Hectare" title="523">hectares</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> and those <glossary term="Harvest" title="521">harvests</glossary> are my earliest memories in the vines. My grandmother had eight children and it was a big weekend activity: the whole family would <glossary term="Harvest" title="521">harvest</glossary> and she&rsquo;d cook for everyone.</p> <p><strong>So you inherited land?</strong></p> <p>I did not. No one from my family kept my great uncle&rsquo;s vines. As you know, the popularity of <glossary term="Banyuls" title="135">Banyuls</glossary> and <glossary term="Vin Doux" title="1095">vin doux</glossary> has been in free fall for quite a while. So he&rsquo;d sold off most of his land and kept very little.</p> <p>I went through high school but flunked out of university, it was not my thing. So I needed to start working. I ended up working for a <glossary term="Vigneron/Vignaiolo" title="1089">vigneron</glossary> who sold to the <glossary term="Cave Cooperative" title="252">cave cooperative</glossary> but worked&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Organic" title="746">organically</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> I&rsquo;ve always been an athletic person, so I took a liking to the the physical aspect and being outside. That was in 2008.</p> <p><strong>How long did you work with this vigneron and what led to your own project?</strong></p> <p>I worked with him for about a year. He was the only one working in <glossary term="Organic" title="746">organics</glossary> for the&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Cave Cooperative" title="252">coop</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> so he knew all the &ldquo;crazy&rdquo; independent <glossary term="Vigneron/Vignaiolo" title="1089">vignerons</glossary> working in the same way: Alain Castex, Bruno Duch&ecirc;ne, Manuel di Vecchi Staraz&hellip; and he was also selling them a bit of his crop for a little extra income. So that was my introduction to that microcosm.</p> <p>Working <glossary term="Organic" title="746">organically</glossary> felt natural to me and meeting these small independent <glossary term="Vigneron/Vignaiolo" title="1089">vignerons</glossary> coming from other regions was inspiring. In 2010, I decided I wanted to start my own project. So I followed a <glossary term="Viticulture" title="1103">viticultural</glossary> program in&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span> <glossary term="Rivesaltes" title="863">Rivesaltes</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> mainly so I&nbsp;could touch subventions from the government. It was the first year they were offering an <glossary term="Organic" title="746">organic</glossary> curriculum, so that meant my internship would de facto be with someone who was&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Organic Certification" title="260">certified</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> Being from&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Collioure" title="319">Collioure</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> it didn&rsquo;t make sense to me to go somewhere flat and learn tractor work; I needed someone in <glossary term="Collioure" title="319">Collioure</glossary>/<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Banyuls" title="135">Banyuls</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> Fortunately for me, there weren&rsquo;t a ton of choices and I ended up with Alain Castex. He taught me everything about <glossary term="Organic" title="746">organic</glossary> <glossary term="Viticulture" title="1103">viticulture</glossary> in&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Banyuls" title="135">Banyuls</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> which I will sum up&nbsp;as: the <glossary term="Xadic" title="1465">xadic</glossary> and the <glossary term="Xadic" title="1465">xadic</glossary> and the <glossary term="Xadic" title="1465">xadic</glossary> (laughs). But my time there did not coincide with the <glossary term="Harvest" title="521">harvest</glossary> and&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Vinification" title="1104">vinifications</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> so I was not able to learn anything from him in that respect.</p> <p>Being from the area, it wasn&rsquo;t that hard finding land. These were more or less abandoned by <glossary term="Cave Cooperative" title="252">cooperative</glossary> farmers because they were not very productive. But honestly it was good for me, I learned a lot from the hard work and low&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Yield" title="1129">yields</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> So I started with a few <glossary term="Hectare" title="523">hectares</glossary> and was bringing my grapes to the cooperative. 2011 was my first <glossary term="Harvest" title="521">harvest</glossary> and in 2012 I started finding more land. I was still bringing everything to the <glossary term="Cave Cooperative" title="252">coop</glossary> but working most <glossary term="Parcel" title="760">parcels</glossary>&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Organic" title="746">organically</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> Talking to Alain and Bruno Duch&ecirc;ne, they said they might be interested in my grapes and that&rsquo;s how I started selling some to Bruno.</p> <p>By 2013, Bruno and I had become close. He was in the early stages of the 9 Caves project, and told me: &ldquo;You&rsquo;re 25, you&rsquo;re from the area. You don&rsquo;t want to make your own wine here?&rdquo; I told him I had no idea how to make wine, that Alain hadn&rsquo;t been able to show me. This was around <glossary term="Harvest" title="521">harvest</glossary> time, so he told me that if I wanted, I could come by after the day&rsquo;s work picking and help him out in the&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Cellar" title="254">cellar</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> see how it works and ask questions. So my first lessons in winemaking were with Bruno.</p> <p>It was great because Bruno is someone who&rsquo;d been in other regions, had experience past the <glossary term="Terroir" title="1026">terroirs</glossary> of <span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Banyuls" title="135">Banyuls</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> So I got to absorb his techniques for his wines, but also ask how it was done elsewhere. If I have one regret, it&rsquo;s that I started so young in my native land and didn&rsquo;t spend any time seeing how it&rsquo;s done in other parts of France and the world.</p> <p><strong>So this was the spark.</strong></p> <p>Yes. From this experience I decided to make my own wine. But I started with very little independent production and continued to sell to the&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Cave Cooperative" title="252">coop</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> This assured revenue that I could re-invest into my own&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Cellar" title="254">cellar</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> My first <glossary term="Vintage" title="1109">vintage</glossary> with Domaine Carterole was 2014.</p> <p><strong>How has Domaine Carterole evolved since that first vintage?</strong></p> <p>From 2014 to 2017, I&rsquo;d say about 80% of my production was still going to the <glossary term="Cave Cooperative" title="252">cave cooperative&nbsp;</glossary>and a little bit to Bruno. I had managed to rent 14 <glossary term="Hectare" title="523">hectares</glossary> of vines at that point, all in&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Collioure" title="319">Collioure</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> But I realized it was going to be impossible to working all of&nbsp;these&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Organic" title="746">organically</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> at least economically. So from 2017 to 2020, I let go of a lot of the <glossary term="Terrace" title="1022">terraces</glossary> and searched&nbsp;for flatter land that was at least partly&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Mechanization" title="645">mechanizable</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> These ended up being in the sector of Saint-Andr&eacute;, the village where I live. It was too much land for my own production, so that was also the impetus&nbsp;for Tutti Frutti Ananas. This was 2017.</p> <p>So 2017 was a turning point. The years prior I was making between 1500 and 3000 bottles, it was nothing. From 2017 to 2020 I made between 4000 and 7500 bottles. And 2021 another milestone, because I acquired more vines in Saint-Andr&eacute; but also decided to completely stop with the&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Cave Cooperative" title="252">cave cooperative</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> One of the biggest reasons I was so conservative in the early years was that I worried I wouldn&rsquo;t be able to sell my production. But now I&rsquo;m confident I can do it and aim to make about 15 000 bottles a year.</p> <p><strong>14 hectares sounds like a huge amount of land for the area. How much of it was&nbsp;on terraces? How much on flatter land?</strong></p> <p>It&rsquo;s true being from the area helped, a lot of people remembered by grandfather. Then my neighbors would see me working the soils with my little caterpillar,&nbsp;they felt compelled talking to the crazy young guy busting his hump. I told them this was my vision for the work in the vines, and a bunch of them actually said that if I wanted, they had land I could rent.</p> <p>Today I have 8.5 hectares in&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Collioure" title="319">Collioure</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> five of those on the traditional <glossary term="Terrace" title="1022">terraces</glossary> where <glossary term="Mechanization" title="645">mechanization</glossary> is impossible. Then I have 12 <glossary term="Hectare" title="523">hectares</glossary> in Saint-Andr&eacute;e where I live. <glossary term="Collioure" title="319">Collioure</glossary> is a magnificent&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Terroir" title="1026">terroir</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> but economically it&rsquo;s very hard to make a living, especially if you work&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Organic" title="746">organically</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> I&rsquo;d have to sell the wines super expensive or do some <glossary term="Négociant" title="729">n&eacute;goce</glossary> on the side. In Saint-Andr&eacute; I can get 4<span class="zalup"><span>0<glossary term="hl/ha" title="528">hl/h</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> with <glossary term="Yield" title="1129">yields</glossary> like that I can have something to offer quantity-wise&nbsp;at a more reasonable price.</p> <p><strong>Even eight hectares still sounds like a lot for Collioure.</strong></p> <p>Some guys have a lot more but it&rsquo;s worked&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Conventional Farming" title="331">conventionally</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> But yes, I suppose I have a relatively large amount of land, especially for working&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Organic" title="746">organically</glossary><span>.</span></span></span></p> <p><strong>What goes into Domaine Carterole versus Tutti Frutti Ananas?</strong></p> <p>I&rsquo;d say I <glossary term="Vinification" title="1104">vinify</glossary> about 40% of my production, then the rest goes to Tutti Frutti and to Bruno. Roughly 80% of the grapes that produce Tutti Frutti come from my land.</p> <p><strong>What does Carterole mean?</strong></p> <p>It was my grandfather&rsquo;s nickname. A carterole is the little barrel like the ones&nbsp;Saint Bernards wear around their necks. Back in the day, fishermen would fill theirs up with wine for the day&rsquo;s work on the boat. The wines were much lighter back then, and grandpa&nbsp;had a reputation for drinking a lot of it. So that&rsquo;s where the nickname came from.</p> <p><strong>What grapes are you growing?</strong></p> <p>In <glossary term="Collioure" title="319">Collioure</glossary> the biggest <glossary term="Plot" title="1133">plot</glossary> I have is a flat <glossary term="Parcel" title="760">parcel</glossary> of&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Syrah" title="1001">Syrah</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> It&rsquo;s not very traditional, here we always had the three <glossary term="Grenache" title="508">Grenache</glossary> <span class="zalup"><span>(<glossary term="Grenache" title="508">Noir</glossary><span>,</span></span></span>&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Grenache Gris" title="1158">Gris</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> <glossary term="Grenache Blanc" title="509">Blanc</glossary>) and&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Carignan" title="237">Carignan</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> When they introduced the <glossary term="Collioure" title="319">Collioure</glossary> <glossary term="Appellation" title="113">appellation</glossary> in 1971, those wines are meant to be dry so they started permitting other grapes.&nbsp;Now 15 are allowed;&nbsp;that includes <glossary term="Mourvèdre" title="692">Mourv&egrave;dre</glossary> and&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Counoise" title="351">Counoise</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> the latter being very rare. The only guy I knew who still has&nbsp;a lot is Alain Castex. Besides the&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Syrah" title="1001">Syrah</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> in <glossary term="Collioure" title="319">Collioure</glossary> I have&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Grenache" title="508">Grenache Noir</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> <glossary term="Carignan" title="237">Carignan</glossary> and <glossary term="Mourvèdre" title="692">Mourv&egrave;dre</glossary> for red. In white I have&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Grenache Gris" title="1158">Grenache Gris</glossary><span>,</span></span></span>&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Grenache Blanc" title="509">Grenache Blanc</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> <glossary term="Vermentino" title="1081">Vermentino</glossary> and some&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Roussanne" title="878">Roussanne</glossary><span>.</span></span></span></p> <p>In Saint-Andr&eacute; I have&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Grenache Gris" title="1158">Grenache Gris</glossary><span>,</span></span></span>&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Macabeu" title="609">Macabeu</glossary><span>,</span></span></span>&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Syrah" title="1001">Syrah</glossary><span>,</span></span></span>&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Carignan" title="237">Carignan</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> <glossary term="Grenache" title="508">Grenache Noir</glossary> and a bit of&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Muscat" title="698">Muscat</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> All of this was already there, and two years ago I planted some more <glossary term="Macabeu" title="609">Macabeu</glossary> and&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Vermentino" title="1081">Vermentino</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> And this year I&rsquo;ll plant more of those along with <glossary term="Grenache Blanc" title="509">Grenache Blanc</glossary> and&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Xarel lo" title="1302">Xarello</glossary><span>.</span></span></span></p> <p><strong>Being the only local in what you call this microcosm of small vignerons puts you in a fairly unique position. You&rsquo;re from the region but learned from outsiders; how does that resonate with you personally and for the region as a whole?</strong></p> <p>Before I met any of these&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Vigneron/Vignaiolo" title="1089">vignerons</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> I&rsquo;d of course heard of them. Locals considered them eccentric oddballs. They thought they were crazy for working this land manually for tiny&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Yield" title="1129">yields</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> I&rsquo;ll admit that locally people are quite judgmental and wary of outsiders. I know Bruno befriended an old man who taught him how to&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Grafting" title="500">graft</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> but personalities like that are rare around here.&nbsp;</p> <p>But I also think there was resentment and jealousy. Think about it: 90% of the <glossary term="Vigneron/Vignaiolo" title="1089">vignerons</glossary> are selling to the&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Cave Cooperative" title="252">cave cooperative</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> and here come these outsiders with their independent&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Estate" title="427">estates</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> selling the entirety of their production at high prices. Fortunetly I got to know these people and they are extraordinary: they are humble, generous and&nbsp;smart. Bruno gave me the opportunity to have my own&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Cellar" title="254">cellar</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> Knowing I&rsquo;d be around Bruno and&nbsp;Manuel with Alain just next door, it&rsquo;s what motivated me to do this. Without their influence, I don&rsquo;t know where I&rsquo;d have ended up.</p> <p>I&rsquo;m very lucky, they&rsquo;ve always had my back: tasting my wines, giving me advice, reassuring me, always giving me the time of day. They also introduced me to all their customers! A conventional winemaker, even if he has his own&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Estate" title="427">estate</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> he&rsquo;s not going to share his customers with a neighbor, he sees them as a competitor. Bruno and Manuel, they&rsquo;ve taken me to all the fairs, introduced me to people like you, made sure I was around at the right times.</p> <p>A lot of locals scratch there heads at what we do; this is an area that has lost all of its popularity yet here is this small group of people selling their production. We are happy in what we do, we get along, we share our energy and party together. It&rsquo;s great.</p>

producers visit

<p><em><strong>Words and photos by Jules Dressner.</strong></em></p> <p>We&#39;ve known Joachim Roque for quite a few years now, but this was our first time visiting&nbsp;his&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Estate" title="427">estate</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> Fueled by croissants, coffee and a nice view of the Mediterranean, we were ready to go!&nbsp;</p> <p><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//937/5b/25/5b25d76464e006db818797e78c8bd725.jpg" /></p> <p>Joachim told us he wanted to start the visit in the vines of Saint-Andr&eacute;, the village where he lives. Not realizing it was a solid 20 minute drive, we had some time to chat about this sector I&#39;d never visited&nbsp;before.&nbsp;</p> <p><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//937/77/df/77dfe658f31d33d482174eb415048b46.jpg" /></p> <p>Saint-Andr&eacute; is not only where&nbsp;Joachim lives but where he has the majority of his vines. The <glossary term="Terroir" title="1026">terroirs</glossary> here are part of the very broad <glossary term="Côtes du Roussillon" title="376">C&ocirc;tes du Roussillon</glossary> <span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Appellation" title="113">appellation</glossary><span>.</span></span></span>&nbsp;</p> <p>The big project of the moment&nbsp;is to build a <glossary term="Cellar" title="254">cellar</glossary> minutes from his house for the 2023&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Vintage" title="1109">vintage</glossary><span>.</span></span></span></p> <p><em>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s much closer to </em><glossary term="Collioure" title="319"><em>Collioure</em></glossary><em> and all the Saint-Andr&eacute; vines are right there. From my village, there is only one road to </em><glossary term="Banyuls" title="135"><em>Banyuls</em></glossary><em> and the 9 Caves where&nbsp;I have my </em><glossary term="Cellar" title="254"><em>cellar</em></glossary><em>. We&rsquo;re </em><glossary term="Harvest" title="521"><em>harvesting</em></glossary><em> in August, it&rsquo;s peak tourist season. Sometimes it takes me an hour and half to get to the 9 Caves. It&rsquo;s a huge waste of time and energy.&rdquo;</em></p> <p>The first sector we visited is Joachim&#39;s single largest <glossary term="Plot" title="1133">plot</glossary> of land.&nbsp;</p> <p><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//937/7a/84/7a84a583c9770f8971803bfc351cc830.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//937/e8/13/e813a479cfde9bfbb5fcfc5f3fc1c3d3.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//937/04/d2/04d278591814eced1fe9b1779bdc8ac8.jpg" /></p> <p>The main plantings are 12 year old <glossary term="Muscat" title="698">Muscat</glossary> that go&nbsp;into &quot;Esperanza Blanc&quot;,&nbsp;along with the <glossary term="Syrah" title="1001">Syrah</glossary> and <glossary term="Grenache" title="508">Grenache Noir</glossary> Joachim uses to make his&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Rosé/Rosato" title="871">ros&eacute;</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> In 2022, he will plant some <glossary term="Xarel lo" title="1302">Xarel-lo</glossary> in hopes of making a sparkling wine. The <glossary term="Cellar" title="254">cellar</glossary> will also be by these vines, to the right of the building in the picture above.&nbsp;</p> <p>The soils here&nbsp;are very&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Sand" title="909">sandy</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> so&nbsp;<glossary term="Yield" title="1129">yields</glossary>&nbsp;can get up to very respectable&nbsp;4<span class="zalup"><span>0<glossary term="hl/ha" title="528">hl/h</glossary><span>.</span></span></span></p> <p><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//937/0c/fb/0cfbf9c5991e1db49909d90aa8fdefb7.jpg" /></p> <p>Some of the younger vines have been struggling, so Joachim planted&nbsp;mustard seeds between the rows to help with vigor.</p> <p><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//937/b4/11/b411c632ed4b9f478eaad60b75aedc42.jpg" /></p> <p>The second <glossary term="Parcel" title="760">parcel</glossary> we visited is what Joachim&nbsp;uses the for&nbsp;his &quot;Brutal&quot;.</p> <p><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//937/cf/fd/cffd5c742cb259a738e3b40e5513b281.jpg" /></p> <p>The <glossary term="Parcel" title="760">parcel</glossary> consists of&nbsp;<glossary term="Syrah" title="1001">Syrah</glossary> <glossary term="Co-plantation" title="309">co-planted</glossary> with <glossary term="Muscat d'Alexandrie" title="687">Muscat d&rsquo;Alexandrie</glossary> (hey, that&#39;s the same <glossary term="Blend" title="168">blend</glossary> as Tom Lubbe&#39;s Brutal!) The vines are about&nbsp;25 years old and planted on rockier&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Sand" title="909">sands</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> They are off an off-road with little else but little patches of vines.</p> <p><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//937/54/83/5483f0fa3048d2bfba87e0806d70fa2a.jpg" /></p> <p>That&#39;s the <glossary term="Pyrenees Mountains" title="1195">Pyrenees</glossary> in the above&nbsp;background on the left. You could see them at any point of the visit.&nbsp;</p> <p>The third Saint-Andr&eacute; <glossary term="Parcel" title="760">parcel</glossary> we drove to is planted in 1.2<glossary term="Hectare" title="523">h</glossary> of <glossary term="Grenache" title="508">Grenache Noir</glossary> and 1.2<glossary term="Hectare" title="523">h</glossary> of <glossary term="Syrah" title="1001">Syrah</glossary> for reds, along with&nbsp;40 <glossary term="Are" title="1208">ares</glossary> of <glossary term="Macabeu" title="609">Macabeu</glossary> and <glossary term="Vermentino" title="1081">Vermentino</glossary> for white.</p> <p><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//937/54/f0/54f09807b519167f46e8c348fffb0e9e.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//937/84/09/84098fd07b6f2e74317b6574266e4403.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//937/84/e4/84e46f4a64ba900fc6c4ec771197f9e7.jpg" /></p> <p>There are plans to plant 35 <glossary term="Are" title="1208">ares</glossary> of <glossary term="Grenache Blanc" title="509">Grenache Blanc</glossary> here in 2022.</p> <p>We didn&#39;t stop and see all 12.5 <glossary term="Hectare" title="523">hectares</glossary> in Saint-Andr&eacute;e, though we did drive past a few <glossary term="Parcel" title="760">parcels</glossary>&nbsp;that go into the Tutti Frutti Ananas project. From this land, Joachim currently produces&nbsp;the Carterole &quot;Esperanza&quot; cuv&eacute;es&nbsp;(white, ros&eacute;, red) and roughly 80% of the Tutti Frutti Ananas production.&nbsp;</p> <p>We&nbsp;then headed to the <glossary term="Collioure" title="319">Collioure</glossary> <span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Terroir" title="1026">terroirs</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> Joachim&#39;s main <glossary term="Parcel" title="760">parcel</glossary> is on the other&nbsp;side of the mountain&nbsp;from Saint-Andr&eacute;. There were&nbsp;some stunning views on the drive over.&nbsp;</p> <p><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//937/29/17/2917a5a01ee2afaa0bfcd988223fe84c.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//937/f6/e4/f6e4b9005f6625ef41023b1055b458f7.jpg" /></p> <p>Fun fact: that rock on the top of the picture above&nbsp;is famous for mountain climbing and actually where special police and fire fighters&nbsp;train.&nbsp;</p> <p>After settling down a windy road, Joachim gave us the the lay of the land. His&nbsp;main <glossary term="Collioure" title="319">Collioure</glossary> parcel has been dubbed Estafette because of the abandoned Renault truck of the same name living in the vineyard.&nbsp;</p> <p><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//937/95/c4/95c4764a964be283c8cdcc8244bfca29.jpg" /></p> <p><em>&quot;I have no idea how it got here. But it&#39;s useful to hide in when it rains or it&#39;s cold!&quot;</em></p> <p>Hey, at least this is one <glossary term="Lieu-Dit" title="594">lieu-dit</glossary> where we actually know the name&#39;s origin! If you pay attention, you&#39;ll also notice the truck on all of Joachim&#39;s labels along with some&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Terrace" title="1022">terraces</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> a fisherman and <glossary term="Collioure" title="319">Collioure</glossary>&#39;s famous church Notre Dame des Anges.</p> <p><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//937/14/7b/147be6451c4bf2a2d6972a829b4e6774.png" /></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><em>&quot;If you&#39;re driving in the area, you&nbsp;can see the truck&nbsp;from pretty far away. We&#39;ve thought of painting it with our name&nbsp;and having tastings in it. Maybe one day.&quot;&nbsp;</em></p> <p>From this&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Parcel" title="760">parcel</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> an&nbsp;&quot;Esta F&ecirc;te&quot; white and red are produced.&nbsp;Grape wise, it&rsquo;s a traditional <glossary term="Parcel" title="760">parcel</glossary>&nbsp;planted with the three colors of <glossary term="Grenache" title="508">Grenache</glossary> along with some&nbsp;<glossary term="Carignan" title="237">Carignan</glossary> and a tiny bit of&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Roussanne" title="878">Roussanne</glossary><span>.</span></span></span>&nbsp;</p> <p><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//937/74/ab/74abdea4b90bda92113c5d0b035b553b.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//937/d6/45/d645b458f9fc901af39108debb63fba4.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//937/25/65/2565c72ca2b29eaf597a31da3afbf58f.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//937/5a/40/5a400833ad816e7f313e2962a2eb1cea.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//937/cf/52/cf527e5f5a6556b1a19a052911cfbe1a.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//937/c6/69/c669428e47d62d2a906c6cbb92260e39.jpg" /></p> <p>The view is not too bad either:</p> <p><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//937/39/23/392362bc727801e73d8fe588acef57b3.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//937/ee/15/ee150d60dcf1778da684600911007215.jpg" /></p> <p>Directly above Joachim&#39;s vines, Manuel from Vinyer de la Ruca has one of his biggest vineyards. I covered it&nbsp;extensively in my 2019 Vinyer de la Ruca visit and recommend you read about&nbsp;if there.&nbsp;</p> <p><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//937/21/fc/21fc5fe187a73b80d0e9df32c7c21bd2.jpg" /></p> <p>If you look closely in the photo above, you&#39;ll notice sheep. They thought we&nbsp;were there to feed them and were&nbsp;very disappointed.&nbsp;</p> <p><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//937/91/d2/91d23ccc9e9d66a7b902add9e991be95.jpg" /></p> <p>One thing I hadn&#39;t caught back in 2019 was that a large proportion of the grapes in Manuel&#39;s <glossary term="Parcel" title="760">parcel</glossary> go into the <glossary term="Blend" title="168">blend</glossary> for &quot;Morango&quot;, a <glossary term="Cuvée" title="363">cuv&eacute;e</glossary> from&nbsp;Tutti Frutti Ananas.&nbsp;</p> <p><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//937/61/b7/61b7cd1622e36536e33d2ff4066084d8.jpg" /></p> <p>With the sheep still booing (behhhing?) us, we got back in the car,&nbsp;driving&nbsp;closer to <glossary term="Collioure" title="319">Collioure</glossary> itself to visit a second sector.</p> <p><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//937/70/79/7079905bb7bcf264d276cc51cbefdfac.jpg" /></p> <p>Here the <glossary term="Terrace" title="1022">terraces</glossary> are much more spaced out and at a lower&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Elevation" title="419">elevation</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> The three <glossary term="Grenache" title="508">Grenaches</glossary> are planted&nbsp;with&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Carignan" title="237">Carignan</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> but Joachim&nbsp;is planting other varieties for fun because it is one of the only sectors in <glossary term="Collioure" title="319">Collioure</glossary>&nbsp;that is&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Mechanization" title="645">mechanizable</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> These are also the only vines Joachim owns.</p> <p>It was lunch time, so we headed back to town for a lovely meal accompanied by Joachim&#39;s 2021&#39;s.&nbsp;</p> <p><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//937/f1/a1/f1a15a58ffc0ac115f605046db044a06.jpg" /></p> <p>The wines were all showing quite well despite it being a very complicated <glossary term="Vintage" title="1109">vintage</glossary> with long <glossary term="Fermentation" title="441">fermentations</glossary> and a particularly worrisome spike of <glossary term="Volatile Acidity" title="1116">volatile acidity</glossary> that forced Joachim to add a gram of <glossary term="Sulfites" title="993">sulfur</glossary> to the wines before&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Bottling" title="185">bottling</glossary><span>.</span></span></span> This is the first time Joachim has used <glossary term="Sulfites" title="993">S02</glossary> in his own production. He feels it&#39;s a concession but&nbsp;does not regret the decision.&nbsp;</p> <p>After lunch, we got to be tourists for 10 minutes since the restaurant was right next to&nbsp;Notre Dame des Anges (which was unfortunately under repair scaffolding.)</p> <p><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//937/03/78/03784ac9f7446127ccb9990e19bc6476.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//937/64/f6/64f6e022a7446d1bb1bbdaae67231cee.jpg" /></p> <p>On the way back to&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Banyuls" title="135">Banyuls</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> we stopped by Joachim&#39;s third sector in&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Collioure" title="319">Collioure</glossary><span>.</span></span></span>&nbsp;</p> <p><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//937/5f/ea/5fea7210163714b013e5075d2f70bef5.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//937/63/21/6321df73001129619c316c3a27c214f5.jpg" /><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//937/53/55/5355e12d168cf4fb67b8907f3df4fdca.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//937/e9/3a/e93a918ba5daa2764757f8042eb1164e.jpg" /></p> <p>As you can see, these vines are directly above&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Collioure" title="319">Collioure</glossary><span>.</span></span></span>&nbsp;Along with the traditional <glossary term="Grenache" title="508">Grenaches</glossary> and <span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Carignan" title="237">Carignan</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> Joachim has&nbsp;planted&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Roussanne" title="878">Roussanne</glossary><span>,</span></span></span> <glossary term="Vermentino" title="1081">Vermentino&nbsp;</glossary>and <glossary term="Mourvèdre" title="692">Mourv&egrave;dre</glossary> in this area along with more <glossary term="Grenache Gris" title="1158">Grenache Gris</glossary> and&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Grenache Blanc" title="509">Grenache Blanc</glossary><span>.</span></span></span>&nbsp;A huge and unprecedented storm destroyed a lot of the vines here in 2014, so it was an opportunity to start fresh with these less traditional&nbsp;grapes. It&nbsp;was also a&nbsp;ton of work as they had to rebuild the&nbsp;<span class="zalup"><span><glossary term="Terrace" title="1022">terraces</glossary><span>.</span></span></span></p> <p>Before linking with Manuel from Vinyer de la Ruca, we stopped by the Carterole <glossary term="Cellar" title="254">cellar</glossary> to taste a last wine Joachim had forgotten at lunch.</p> <p><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//937/2d/ad/2dad287bfe791f18b7dd727d5288d708.jpg" /></p> <p><img src="https://louisdressner.com/uploads/images/article//937/c7/40/c7401652e6006efb390d26119632e952.jpg" /></p> <p>As with all the producers working out of the 9 Caves, the spaces are tiny and everything fits where it can. These&nbsp;bare bones <glossary term="Cellar" title="254">cellars</glossary> really afirm that the quality of these wines is coming from the <glossary term="Terroir" title="1026">terroir</glossary> first and foremost.</p>