Roussillon, the indies’ surprise of 2025
Graham Holter explains why the wines of Roussillon took independent merchants by surprise in London and in situ.
In magazine publishing, years whizz by with bewildering speed: as editors, we tend to be thinking three months ahead rather than dwelling on the past. But somehow, The Wine Merchant’s October edition – our 150th – has been sent to the printer’s a day earlier than scheduled. I have a moment to reflect on the year so far, and Roussillon looms large. In fact, it represents two of the most memorable projects we’ve been involved in in 2025.
In March, we invited 10 readers – all independent merchants – to London to blind-taste around 100 Roussillon wines and choose their favourites. Some knew a bit about Roussillon wines; others were simply ready to explore.
You can rely on indies for brutal honesty. They get to taste a lot of wines, only a fraction of which they’ll ever be interested in selling, and if a wine is dull, overpriced, uncommercial or unpleasant, they’ll say so. Especially when there are no winemakers in the room to offend.
I won’t pretend that our tasters wrote rave reviews for every one of our wines. But the enthusiasm for those that made the top 20 – and the ones that just missed the cut, in the highly commended category – was palpable.
The whites were variously textural, lush, zesty, complex, vibrant and intriguing, according to the judges. The reds were savoury, spicy, earthy, intense, fresh, polished, gastronomic and decadent. The orange wine that made the top 20 was perfectly judged, floral and aromatic. The rosé was delicate and herbal. The sweet wines of Rivesaltes were exuberant and – to fall back on a word that often seems banal but is sometimes perfect for the job – lovely.
In April, we took a smaller group of independent merchants to see the region in closer detail. We arrived in Perpignan with the Tramontane wind in a particularly violent mood. Only the majestic Canigou mountain, which dominates the view from almost every vantage point, seemed unmoved by its force.
For most of us it was a first opportunity to properly visualise this amphitheatre of viticulture, and to detach it in our minds from its vast, sprawling neighbour, beginning with L, to which it is rather unhelpfully appended.
We were struck by the quiet modesty of the vignerons we encountered, their respect for the land, and their resourcefulness in the face of a changing climate. But mostly by the wines they were pouring. Some of what we tasted was world-class, with prices to match. But it was telling that one of the wines that prompted the most excitement was an entry-level bottling from a co-operative. I believe an order was placed more or less on the spot.
Back in the UK, when we asked our guests for feedback, many of the adjectives that we’d heard at the London tasting reappeared. Freshness was a dominant theme. Authenticity was another. “Roussillon has an explosion of different wines to suit all palates,” said one merchant. “Producers should be very confident about their prospects in the UK.”
I tend to agree – and the independent channel is the perfect place for those ambitions to be realised.
