Drinks of the Month

Les Perles de Jones Carignan Gris, Côtes Catalanes

Posted by Fiona Beckett (Google+) on September 20 2014 at 10:09

This week’s Wine Society tasting was, as always, impressive but there’s one wine I’d urge you to buy now, despite the £16 price tag, as I suspect there isn't much of it.

It’s made from the incredibly rare Carignan Gris of which there are apparently only 2 ha in France and Katie Jones of Domaine Jones is the woman who has her hands on them.

Although related to its red counterpart* it's a delicious, characterful dry white with a marked herby edge which buyer Marcel Orford-Williams aptly recommends with “a few shellfish or maybe some mussels” (mussels would be perfect). And unlike the majority of Roussillon whites it’s only 12.5%

I’ve written about Katie Jones’ wines before. She went to France over 20 years ago to head up sales and marketing for Le Cave de Mont Tauch, the co-op in Fitou but ended up going native and becoming a winemaker. Her other white, Jones Blanc, a more typical grenache gris (£14.95 at the Wine Society) is also a great buy

* it’s a colour mutation according to Jancis Robinson et al’s invaluable Wine Grapes

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