Clos del Rey At a glance

• Founded: 2001, by Jacques Montagné
• Location: Maury, Roussillon, in the Agly valley under the Corbières
• Winemaker: Julien, Jacques’s son and an oenologist, who joined in 2007 and took over the running of the estate in 2010
• Vineyards: Around twelve hectares, with parcels climbing to 300 metres, the highest in the Maury cru
• Vines: Roughly 40% Carignan and 60% Grenache, averaging forty years old, including one hectare of Carignan over a century old
• Yields: 12 to 17 hectolitres per hectare, which is tiny
• Speciality: Maury Sec, the dry red appellation, created only in November 2011

First, a note on where we are

Maury is in Roussillon, not the Languedoc. Different territory, different council, and with Catalan rather than Occitan (the southern French administrative name for the Languedoc region) on the labels. It sits alongside our Languedoc wines as part of a wider view of the region and because the wines are superb and the story is a great one.

The place

The domaine sits at the heart of 300 hectares of protected Natura 2000 garrigue, in the Basses Corbières bird-protection zone, with parcels climbing to 300 metres - the highest in the Maury cru. Around twelve hectares in total. They selected the sites with deep black schist for their Grenache Noir vines, and sites with clay-limestone soil for the Syrah, plus the iron-rich clay that is particular to Maury. Overall they grow roughly 60% Grenache  and 40% Carignan, on vines averaging forty years old, including one rare hectare of Carignan over a century old. Yields of 12 to 17 hectolitres per hectare, which is tiny.

This is the land of Grenache - noir, blanc and gris. Maury made its name on fortified wine, vin doux naturel, and the dry red appellation, Maury Sec, is recent: it was only created in November 2011. Increasingly the dry reds are what get the accolades.

The family

This is a young estate, not an old dynasty. Jacques Montagné founded it in 2001. His son Julien, an oenologist, joined him in 2007 and took over the running of it in 2010. The wines are to Julien’s image - full of character and ambition, and uncompromising. We already stock the Baby del Rey; the two below are the ones we want you to get to know better.

The Tramontane (a famous strong wind current in the region) blows here roughly one day in three, dry and cold, funnelled between the Pyrenees and the Massif Central. It is not a romantic detail: it dries the vineyard, keeps disease pressure low, and is a large part of why low-intervention farming is possible in this valley at all.

A castle above the vines

The vines sit at the foot of the Château de Quéribus, one of the Cathar castles, perched at 728 metres. Quéribus surrendered in 1255 and is often called the last Cathar stronghold  survivors regrouped there after Montségur fell in 1244. It then spent four centuries as a French border fortress, guarding the frontier with Spain, until the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659. That same treaty is why these villages speak Catalan and why the wines are labelled in it. The castle above the vines and the language on the bottle come from the same piece of history.

The Catalan, briefly: noia means “girl”, so La Noia is “the girl”. Vermell means “red”. Sabina is the Phoenician juniper, a garrigue shrub with dark red cones that grows all around the estate - so Sabina Vermell reads as “red juniper”. The domaine has never published a gloss on the names, so take these as our reading, not gospel. And one nuance: Maury itself sits in the Fenouillèdes, historically Occitan-speaking, on the transition line. The Catalan on the label is a statement of regional identity, not the local vernacular.

The wines

Two dry reds, both from Julien.

Clos del Rey, Sabina Vermell 2024

£17

Grenache, Syrah, Carignan · AOC Maury Sec

Utterly delicious, intense dark fruits with a marked pepperiness and a juicy acidity to keep it a-flowin’. This is a classic Maury. You know it when you taste it.

Shop Sabina Vermell

Clos del Rey, La Noia Rouge 2023

£22

100% Grenache · IGP Côtes Catalanes

A single vineyard of old Grenache vines showcasing the intense, lively, essential purity of this grape, and it’s captivating.

Shop La Noia Rouge

We also stock Baby del Rey: Rouge and Blanc.

Browse the full Languedoc and Roussillon range, or take the six-bottle case - one wine from each of our six growers, including Gayda, Monplézy and La Dourbie.