Domaine de Majas - Côtes Catalanes Rouge 2024

Alain Carrère founded Domaine de Majas with his wife Agnès in 1992. Today, the estate represents 30 hectares, all in the commune of Caudiès-de-Fenouillèdes. The vineyards principally consist of Carignan grown on terroirs of schist, volcanic stone and mountainous limestone. Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Grenache, Syrah, Cenanson, Macabeu, Rolle, and Chardonnay are also planted. To this day, the vast majority of Côtes du Roussillon AOC is being mass produced by cave cooperatives. In the early 1990s, the indifferent wine made by the cooperatives made it hard to make a living from viticulture, resulting in the majority of the vines getting ripped out. Those entering the business were pressed by the cooperatives to plant Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Cabernet Franc in order to make Bordeaux-style wines. While initially successful, this strategy failed. Because he couldn’t make it selling his grapes, Alain tried his hand at making wine with his small estate but after inheriting his fathers vineyards, he found it hard to sell the large volumes. An offer to work with a supermarket to produce wine to specification ended up not being profitable either, with the detriment of being forced to produced wines with no character. A chance encounter with Tom Lubbe of Domaine Matassa would change everything. After tasting the wines, Tom told Alain he would be willing to help them rebuild the estate from the ground up. The two verbally agreed on a partnership, and with Tom’s guidance they immediately started converting all 30 hectares to organic viticulture, as well as eliminating all commercial yeasts, additives and excessive sulphur in the cellar. Tom also showed Alain the importance of highlighting different terroirs, a lesson that has produced great results. Alain, completely reinvigorated, is grateful to have had this second chance. The wines being produced today are fresh, elegant and and a real bargain for the quality.