Roussillon part 2 – white, rosé, sweet

Les Aspres, Roussillon

Roussillon's old vineyards hold the key to the future. See also yesterday's report on Roussillon's dry red wines.

The heritage of Roussillon is a sweet one. As far back as the first century AD, Rosemary George tells us (in her new book, The Wines of Roussillon), Pliny the Elder was praising the sweet Muscat wines of the region. In the thirteenth century, James II of Majorca issued an edict protecting the wine of Pepinyà (Perpignan), and in the late 1700s Voltaire wrote of the pleasure in a glass of Salses (Rivesaltes). Dry table wines from the region were...