DOMAINE GARDIÈS Espira d’Agly

If you take the D117 westwards from Perpignan airport, you will cross the flat Rivesaltes plain and quickly find yourself at the the gateway to the fierce mountain country that provided for the Cathars their final, doomed stronghold in the mid 13th century. This is the Corbières-Fenouillèdes Massif, the source of some of the most exciting wines in both colours to currently be emerging from the south of France. The vine is really the only crop that can sustain against the ferocious summer heat, cold winters and powerful Mediterranean winds, and it can be found wherever there is relief from the towering limestone cliffs and garrigue-fringed mountain ridges. This majestic, rugged, hostile and sparsely populated country has become something of a focus for ambitious and innovative vigneron-winemakers, for the potential of ancient vines – predominantly gnarled, bush-pruned Grenache and Carignan on sparse clay and limestone – combined with moderate land prices, has acted as a powerful magnet.

Jean Gardiés is a native of the region, for his family have owned vines in the commune of Vingrau, high up at the head of a tributary valley 10 or so kilometres north Espira d’Agly, for generations, and it is the old Grenache and Carignan grown here that form the heart and soul of his Les Millères cuvée, supplemented by younger Syrah and Mourvèdre vines grown on the windswept black schistes of Espira, overlooking the Rivesaltes plain.

The once maligned Carignan is key to the character of the wines, for it brings a distinctive dark, tar and liquorice-tinged richness that seems to echo the black scree slopes. Grenache, found across the sweep of the Mediterranean from the Rhône valley deep into Spain, counteracts with its paler, sweeter-fruited, generously alcoholic lift, while those great cépages-ameliorateurs Syrah and Mouvèdre bring finesse, structure, complexity and noblesse.

The rich, beautifully evolved 2019 vintage proved a sudden if brief hit this time last year – we had very little of it. The 2020 which replaced it in the early spring was then somewhat reticent, with an element of unresolved tannin that needed a few months to integrate and allow the fruit to fully express itself. A few months it has now had, the wine has duly shed its reserve – indeed has exceeded hopes and expectations – and now presents us with a most delicious and satisfying accompaniment to autumnal dishes, of which feathered game and venison spring most immediately to mind. I recommend it unreservedly.