Where blood was once shed to capture the border region, sweet reds now flow from the grenache grape. White Muscat de Rivesaltes and all manner of dry wines are also made here along the mountain peaks and on the Mediterranean coast. WINELIFE discovered that 'bio' is the key word here, that you can taste southern temperament in everything and that a playful experiment with bottles of Roussillon in the sea has a striking result.
BY MARJOLEIN SCHUMAN
'Welcome to Collioure!' At family-run Roque in the famous anchovy town, they are busy at work. Not cousin Vincent himself. He supervises while fileteerGhislaine and her sister gut the critters in one go. By then, they have been encrusted in salt for 3 months and are here-after placed upright in glass jars and topped with oil, as per tradition. 'After all, I only do one when they have already finished 10!', Vincent shouted as he gestured with his tribal-tattoo-covered arms. The women continued unperturbed as our companion climbed up a narrow metal staircase to the fluorescent-lit work loft - it could be the setting of an Italian mafia film. 'Come, taste our fish!", Vincent directed. At least there is no question of stiff French here. He presses the flyer into our hands, which explains Roques' conservation method in Catalan, French, English or German. Could we translate it into Dutch? Docile, we take the paper back to the hotel. We will find the anchovies in the evening next to our glass of fruity rosé-with-silver AOP Collioure, one of the appellati-ons (regulated areas of origin) in this region.
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