There are just too many great interactions to get them all into a blog.  But a day exploring Vingrau turned into a lot of fun.  For the most part I am drawn to an area by the vineyards but as you can tell, find other wonderful things to enchant and delight.  Vingrau is not far from Tautavel (both northeast of Maury and active parts of the winemaking community of the Roussillon…..I should probably have a map somewhere on this site!!??).   This village is smaller than Tautavel because it does not have “Tautavel Man” to bump up its cachet.

There were a number of lovely alleys and impasse to draw one in.   A front door with a CD disc nailed to it was a case in point.  I stopped, observed, thought it of interest, took a shot or two and was quickly startled by a youngish man with a mop of unruly black hair jabbing at my chest with a cigarette asking what the hell I thought I was doing.  “Taking a picture of a most unusual door knocker”, I said, pointing at the CD.  Turns out that he had something to do with that CD, to little personal avail and was plenty unhappy about it.  I heard the sad tale over a couple of glasses of rosé sitting in a waning October afternoon.

I also had a chance to visit Opoul which has a higher altitude than Tautavel or Vingrau and offers fruit with greater acidity and freshness.  It is also remarkable close to the Mediterranean.   This became important when visiting with the Castany family of Domaine de L’edre  (www.edre.fr)  a winery that is getting plenty of notice in the states (imported by Dan Kravitz, Hand Picked Selections).  The wines are full throttle, but have some racy acidity from these higher elevation vineyard sites.  Don’t miss them if you can find them.

Just Another Front Yard

Just Around the Corner

More Delights

Native Succulent?

High Road to Opoul

The "Tractors" at Lunch

High Altitude Vines

TERROIR!

The Castany Family in Their Domaine

Jacques Castany, Vigneron

Le Heurtoir de la Porte