Grenaschista Cotes Catalanes 2016

It is awesome when you're the first of your friends to discover a breakthrough band or artist. When you get in on the ground floor it's that much more meaningful. The problem is, heaps of your mates then try and pile in and reckon they discovered them first. Look at the Sex Pistols; their first gig was in front of 18 people, yet you walk into any London pub and there'll be some fella propping up the bar regaling indifferent acquaintances about how he was at the first ever Sex Pistols show. Seemingly, there were around 26000 people hiding in the toilet of that gig venue.

That's why trying this Grenache from Cotes Catalanes is so important. In a couple of years all your friends are going to be waxing lyrical about the first time they tasted this lush, voluptuous red, with notes of ripe strawberries and red cherries with a kirsch-like concentration, and notes of fennel and rosemary. Yet you have the opportunity to try it long before all those squares and announce to the world; "I am a Grenaschista!"

Domaine of the Bee was founded by Justin Howard-Sneyd MW in 2007, and has worked with Jean-Marc Lafage at his Maury winery since 2012. The Domaine wines all come from vineyards owned by Justin and his wife, and other wines (like Grenaschista) are made using fruit from vineyards owned by Domaine Lafage. Justin and Jean-Marc first worked together in South Africa in 1994 (the year of Nelson Mandela's election to the presidency).

Justin has worked most of his life as one of the UK's best respected wine buyers, heading up the Waitrose wine team for many years before throwing himself back into winemaking with his Domaine of the Bee project.

The terroirs of the Roussillon, especially the Agly Valley, and the area around Maury in particular, hold some of France's greatest undiscovered potential. Old vines, dry-farmed with minimal intervention, and predominately organic fertilisation produce superbly concentrated flavourful fruit, and the winemaking doesn't need to be very elaborate to allow these grapes to express their extraordinary character. The wines are made with dry farmed vines, with minimal intervention (though not organic). The grapes are hand harvested before undergoing pre-fermentation cold maceration. Fermentation takes place in a combination of open small oak barrels, fibreglass and concrete tanks, before ageing the wine in concrete tanks with a small proportion in oak 500L barrels.