Department 66 Vdp

In france the department exists as an administrative division much like a county does in america. Deep in the southwest corner of the country lies department 66 which serves as the inspiration and namesake for our winery and vineyards in the town of maury. Roughly two hours east of barcelona spain and thirty minutes inland from the ancient roman port city of perpignan old vine grenache thrives along with syrah and carignan in the cotes catalanes; a sub-appellation of the roussillon. We own and maintain 300 acres (120 hectares) of vineyards among the pyrenees-orientales mountain range which were planted more than 60 years ago. The terroir is dominated by black schist with small deposits of granite and limestone in red rocky soils known as angile. Similar to the nearby growing region of priorat in spanish catalonia schist is a crystalline rock based soil that retains heat well but is poor in organic nutrients and nitrogens. Apart from lowland scrub garrigue