The only 2015 red presented, the 2015 Cotes du Roussillon Village les Millères (40% Grenache, 30% Syrah, and the rest Carignan and Mourvèdre) has beautiful purity and freshness to go with ample raspberry and strawberry fruits, spring flowers and hints of violets. I love its purity; it has ripe tannin and plenty of fruit, which is a hallmark of this vintage in the Roussillon. It should drink nicely right out of the gate and keep for 5-6 years.

A blend of Grenache, Syrah, and Carignan with a smidgeon of Mourvedre, Gardies’ 2007 Cotes du Roussillon Villages Les Milleres smells of lightly cooked red raspberry, grenadine, walnut husk, juniper, and subtly integrated vanilla and spice from the half of this cuvee that spends time in used barrels. With a vividly sappy concentration of tart red fruit, resin, and tar, with accents of cardamom and black pepper, this coats the palate and lingers with invigorating tartness and pungency, if also a trace of heat. I would not let its abundant, fine-grained tannin stand in the way of enjoying this wine over the next several years, particularly with red meats. A recent pair of additions to the Gardies line-up is labeled for the Mas Las Cabes property in the Espira de l’Agly. Jean Gardies – whom I did not have a chance to visit with last December – farms his family’s holdings in the chalk-clay soils of Vingrau and the black schist Espira de l’Agly sector along the Agly just outside Perpignan. Imported by Weygandt-Metzler, Unionville, PA; tel. (610) 486-0800.