AOC COTES DU ROUSSILLON

Area appellation
The appellation Cotes du Roussillon covers 118 villages of the department of Pyrénées Orientales. It extends on four big areas: the vallée de l’Agly et les Fenouillèdes (at the north); the vallée de la Têt and the Aspres (at the center); the vallée du Tech and the Albères (at the south); the band shoreline along the Mediterranean Sea (at the east).

Geology
It is composed of soils and sub-soils very diverse (limestone, clay and limestone, shale, gneiss, granite, alluvial terraces, etc.)

Grapes
Red and rosé wines
Carignan noir, Grenache noir, Lladoner Pelut, Cinsault, Syrah, Mourvèdre, Macabeu
White wines
Grenache blanc, Macabeu, Tourbat or Malvoisie du Roussillon, Roussanne, Marsanne, Vermentino

• Key figures
  5 865 ha
  38% red wines
  60 % rosé wines
  2 % white wines

• Yields
  The yield is limited at 45 hl/ha.
  Average yield: 33.41 hl/ha

• Average production
  2007 : 196 306 hl

Source: CIVR

AOC COTES DU ROUSSILLON VILLAGES

Appellation area
The appellation Côtes du Roussillon Villages is reserved to wines produced on 32 villages in the north of the department.

Geology
This AOC covers vineyards clinging to steep hillsides or terraces soil schist, limestone and granite, along the banks of the Agly, the Verdouble and Maury.

Grapes
Same grapes as the AOC Cotes du Roussillon (Carignan noir, Grenache noir, Lladoner Pelut, Syrah, Mourvèdre), plus additional quality constraints.

Appellations:
Four appellations «communales»
Four terroirs are distinguished by it originality, it specific production and the high expression of its wines. The four villages are allowed to add it name to the appellation Côtes du Roussillon Villages:

• Latour de France, on soils mainly brown shale,
• Caramany, on soil mainly gneiss,
• Lesquerde, on soil dominated arenas granite,
• Tautavel, on soils mainly red clay on limestone compact.

• Key figures
  1 325 ha

• Yields
  The yield is limited at 45 hl/ha

• Average production
  33 313 hl