Mas Rous was discovered by chance and with a little bit of luck, which we always like to be on our side! I was driving early in the morning on the 17th August 2011 towards the end of my month long wine sourcing adventure in the south of France and had traversed my way slowly across country from Banyuls and Collioure, the wonderful little seaport famous for anchovies. I had even had the most lovely sunrise swim in the bay which had set me in the perfect mood for welcoming some exciting new discoveries whether wine or country yet to be seen by Mr Whirly’s eye’s.
I had headed as far west as Prades and was wandering the streets looking for a suitable Boucherie for some lamb for my Weber barbeque later that night. I found a suitable place and noticed some wine bottles behind me that looked interesting. My view is that a good butcher anywhere in France has a pretty good palate for food and therefore wine so I asked if the wines were ok? The owner enthused about them very passionately so I asked how far away the vineyard was, about 6 miles back towards the Spanish main border N road, he told me, and so off I went.
Jose, the owner was working in the garden when I arrived in the courtyard of his old family farm. I apologised for dragging him away from his prize Legumes and we commenced a very enjoyable little tasting of wine from Cotes de Catalane, an Appellation within Roussillon, which got off to a cracking start with the most sublime white and red. I simply fell in love with the Muscat, quite gorgeous and the red is a really exciting wine pourer for the coming autumn and winter months:
Two pictures above taken in August when I was visiting the vineyard
Jose the owner as a little boy on the tractor during vendage
Jose, a little older, getting involved once again)
