The discerning drinker: on the road in the Roussillon badlands

Roussillon often gets lumped in with the Languedoc but while there are similarities, it's a highly distinctive region. And in terms of wine, it's a series of areas, all sunny but with wildly varying soils.

From the Les Aspres district, in the Pyrenees foothills, Domaine Treloar La Terre Promise 2009, IGP Côtes Catalanes, is a distinctive white, a blend of macabeu, carignan blanc and grenache gris: big, smoky, buttery yet very well balanced (£13.50). Hesford's Motus 2007 is beefier, mostly mourvèdre, with serious structure but already showing lovely body and richness (£14.50: both from Leon Stolarski Fine Wines, mail order only, lsfinewines.co.uk, delivery £6/mixed case.)

Up the road in Terrats, Bruno Ribière showed me his Domaine Ferrer-Ribière Empreinte du Temps Carignan 2007 (£11.25), which benefits from a frequent factor here: very old vines. This is from vines planted in 1877: it's huge, full of baked fruit with scents of the garrigue and lovely minerality. His Tradition 2007, Côtes du Roussillon is excellent too (£10.50; both from Yapp Brothers, mail order from yapp.co.uk, delivery £8 for up to two cases).

The vines that produce the grapes for Domaine Lafage Cuvée Centenaire 2009, Côtes du Roussillon are almost that old, as the wine's name implies. Domaine Lafage is in a very different zone to les Aspres, on the coastal plain. This white from grenache blanc and marsanne has considerable weight but good freshness too (£10.99). Their red Cuvée Authentique 2008 is warmer and more rounded than some local reds but delicious (£10.49: both from House of Fraser, 101 Victoria Street, SW1).

North of Perpignan the landscape becomes starker. This is the Agly valley, a stretch of Midi badlands that's home to the iconic Domaine Gauby. Gérard Gauby, with his son Lionel, has done more than any other producer to transform the image of Roussillon's wines. Most of his wines are now organically produced: surrounded by several huge dogs, Gérard bubbled with enthusiasm over the 2010 harvest. His wines can be expensive — but, I think, astonishing. At the more affordable end, Les Calcinaires rouge 2007, Côtes du Roussillon Villages, mostly syrah and grenache, is remarkably individual: dark, intensely mineral, almost animal (Wine Society, £13.95: mail order from thewinesociety.com).

Up the valley, the territory gets wilder still. The aptly named Cuvée Extreme 2007, Côtes du Roussillon Villages, produced by the big Vignerons Catalans co-operative, is made from syrah, carignan and mourvèdre grapes from three sub-zones here. It's rich, dark, spicy and brambly: solid and attractive (M&S, £9.49).

Late one afternoon I drove back down the Agly, stopping at Domaine Gardiès, where the winery sits in the midst of vineyards of black slate. Jean Gardiès' Clos des Vignes 2007, Côtes du Roussillon-Villages Tautavel, is mostly carignan and grenache from vines of up to 80 years old: it's wonderfully rich and complex but again with that pleasing streak of freshness and minerality (Wine Society, £14.95.) Outside beneath the trees, the grape-pickers were lingering over their harvest lunch. And once again I felt very envious of M. 'esford.