A year in the life of the Mas Camps vineyard

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Mas Camps is situated in the foothills of the Pyrenees, surrounded by vineyards. In this idyllic setting, we offer you an escape from the hustle and bustle of city life and yet we are only 20 minutes from the dynamic city of Perpignan with its convenient daily connections to London, Toulouse and Barcelona. Although in the country, we are within 30 minutes of the Spanish border, about 40 minutes from the beach resort of Canet Plage, under an hour and a half to the ski resorts and 2½ hours from Andorra.

Our method of control of the vineyard results from commonsense agriculture, using mechanical or manual labour to preserve the environment.

September: the harvest

	Towards the end of August, under the hot southern French sun the harvest begins.
	Once the grapes have reached maturity the bunches of grapes are handpicked and taken in baskets to the harvest trailer. This traditional method of harvesting ensures that the grapes are delicately handled.
	On arrival at Mas Camps, the trailer is emptied into a hopper to be delivered to the winery.
	The objective is to preserve whole grapes to capture maximum aromas To achieve this objective, the grapes are transferred by conveyor belt to the destalker. The destalker separates the grapes from the stalks. The grapes continue into the tank to begin fermentation.
	The grape solids float to the surface of the tank to create the cap of grape must. Work continues by pieage (a manual operation which consists of pushing the cap of must into the grape juice) to extract more colour and flavour.

The harvest process

The process for the harvest is described below, but it is not the only one used.

In the winery is a vat of approximately 40 kilos into which whole bunches of grapes are emptied directly to ferment throughout the winter. We have used this method with the carignan and the mouvedre grapes.

The tanks begin their alcoholic fermentation and gradually sugars ferment into alcohol.

This stage of the wine making is the subject of special monitoring with periodic oenological analyses carried out in the laboratory.

That said, it is by tasting that we will decide to stop the fermentation: ' to sink the tank', that is to say to extract the juice and to press from the cap of must the press juice.

The pressed juice and the free run juice are stored separately and can be mixed later in proportions to fine tune the taste.

For the white and rosé, the grapes are sorted and passed directly to the press. The resulting juice is then transferred to tank to begin its alcoholic fermentation.

The important thing in making these wines is to avoid any risk of oxidation by contact with the air. Grape picking is done very early in the morning when it is still cool. Once fermented, the juice is held at very low temperature so that all the suspended matter drops to the bottom, leaving a clear juice.

All these operations are carried out one grape variety at a time, allowing the blending of different varietals for different wines each year, some of which are matured in barrels…

December: the bottles of white and rosé arrive

The white and rosé require additional processing and therefore cannot be bottled on the domain.

January: checking the reds

	The first taste of the 2004 reds which will be transferred into bottles later.
	Winter does arrive even in the south of France.
	training the vines

February

	The vines just before they are pruned
	The wine is filtered to remove the sediment, a task that takes up most of the day.
	The "bag in box" machine arrives.

Getting here ...

... is described in our transport section (through which you can book flights and car hire if required), but briefly you can fly to Perpignan (10-15 minutes away), Carcassonne or Girona (both about 90 minutes distant), Toulouse or Barcelona (about 2 hours), take the TGV to Perpignan, or, of course, drive here. Once you get to Perpignan (the city or airport), follow the signs for Foix which takes you along the D117 through the villages of Cases de Pène and then Estagel before you reach us (we are immediately to your left after you cross the second bridge out of Estagel). The direction signs are displayed on our airport directions page and there is a map of the local area here. If you are coming during August, it's best to avoid the motorway after Narbonne as the queues are enormous by the time you approach Perpignan (the N9 follows much the same route without the queues or the tolls).

The Pyrenees-Oriental and Catalan regions ...

... are described more fully in our section on the region. We think that there is something for everyone here from the rich tapestry of the vineyards, the magnificent mountain landscapes of the Pyrenees, the delightful medieval villages to the Mediterranean beaches and all within an hour of Mas Camps. That's within an hour at normal speeds; we have managed all these in under 30 minutes ourselves.

Getting in touch

Mas Camps Winery is at:
RN 117
Route de Maury
66460 Maury
France

Phone numbers:

• France: 04 68 29 48 07

• USA/Canada: 011 33 4 68 29 48 07

• Elsewhere: 00 33 468 29 48 07

Fax 04 68 57 87 41

E-mail: cave@mascamps.com

 

Services

onsite accommodation at Mas Camps Hotel

private carpark (free)

tastings

tours of the winery

town with most services (supermarket, petrol station, bank/ATM, restaurants) 2 miles

wine shop offering direct sales of our wines