Exploring the Roussillon (2) Cave Dom Brial
Website: https://www.dom-brial.com/
Dom Brial is a quality-focused cooperative based in Baixas, a small village of just 2000 inhabitants. The 200 member growers have 1760 hectares, spread over 12 different terroirs and 30 municipalities.
I visited with Laura Sicard, the export manager, who took us to see a remarkable vineyard that they own. It’s a 4 hectare vineyard in a lieu dit called Crest Petit. Altogether, the members of the coop own around 95% of the lieu dit. The coop bought this 7 hectare plot back in 2010 and have redeveloped it with sur echalas planting for the Syrah, which has fragile shoots that can be broken off if it is grown as a bush vine.
And it’s windy round here. The Roussillon has wind blowing one day out of three.
This year (up to July 2025) they have already had 350 mm rainfall since November, which is better than last year (a drought year), but it’s not enough to replenish the reserves. They have 100 hectares of their 1760 ha on drip irrigation. Half production is sold locally.
THE WINES
Dom Ici Blanc 2024 IGP Côtes Catalanes
Macabeu. Fresh, juicy and bright but with some nice pear and white peach fruit with some fine spiciness. This has nice fine spicy detail, and is really drinkable, with some texture. 88/100
Confidentielle Blanc 2024 Côtes du Roussillon
This is from the terracotta in the cellar. 80% Grenache Blanc, 20% Roussanne, on a fresh terroir, vinified in amphora, aged 6 months on lees. Nice concentration of flavour with some grainy detail to the pear and white peach fruit. Well balanced with some interest here. 91/100 (not yet released)
Dom Ici Rosé 2024 IGP Côtes Catalanes
Very pale coloured. Grenache Rouge. Bright, juicy and fresh with nice pear fruit and a touch of red cherry. Fruity and bright with good energy. 88/100
Château Les Pins Blanc 2023 Côtes du Roussillon
Grenache and Roussanne. Some in concrete, some in barrel, some in stainless steel. Bright, fresh and vivid with a nice stony, mineral edge with just a touch of spicy oak here. Nice depth and weight, with some sophistication. 90/100
Brio Brial 2024 Vin de France
9.5% alcohol. Marselan. Naturally low alcohol, from picking early, and higher yields of 80 hl/ha. Juicy and vivid with nice cherry and berry fruit, showing a bit of spicy, peppery detail. Nice fruit here. It’s really appealing and drinkable with lovely focus to the fruit. 90/100
El Cami Sans Sulfites 2023 IGP Côtes Catalanes
12.5% alcohol. Syrah. Organic. Stony, fresh, mineral and peppery with a nice savoury twist to the black cherry fruits, showing fruit sweetness and volume but also some structure. Stylish. 91/100
Dom Ici Carignan Rouge 2024 IGP Côtes Catalanes
Some carbonic. Slight oxidative hints here with some apple as well as cherry and plums, with a fruity character, but it is too oxidised. 81/100
Les Petits Pins 2023 Côtes du Roussillon Villages
This is a great example of Baixas terroir. They applied to have the village name appended, but this was declined by the OIV. Syrah, Grenache, Carignan and Mourvèdre. Aged in concrete. Slightly reductive nose. Juicy and vivid on the palate with good tannins and nice direct, vivid black cherries and blackcurrants, with a stony, spicy edge. Grippy finish. 92/100
Château Les Pins Rouge 2020 Côtes du Roussillon Villages
Nicely structured and dense with some spicy oak (one-third new) supporting the bold berry and black fruits. Grippy and quite intense, this is a structured example of Roussillon and it’s quite classy. Some crushed rock and graphite savouriness. Ageworthy. 92/100
Dom Brial Crest Petit 2018 Côtes du Roussillon Villages
80% Syrah, 20% Grenache. This is bold but well balanced with some prominent new oak (100% in new 500 litre barrels) showing adding a spice and structure to the intense black cherry and blackberry fruit with some grainy detail. Plush, rich, spicy and intense, it’s an impressive, polished with, albeit slightly in an international style. 94/100
Château Les Pins Rivesaltes Tuilé Primage 2022
16% alcohol. 100% Grenache. Solid phase adding brandy, at 110 g of residual sugar. Cherries, raspberries, nice sweetness, a bit of spicy development, some raisins. Rich with some softness, finishing nicely spicy. A very sweet style. 91/100
Dom Brial Rivesaltes Tuilé Hors d’Age NV
This is NV but it’s from one vintage, 2012. Spicy and intense with nice notes of raisin, pepper, old wood, treacle and tar. Very sweet with lovely spicy warmth, finishing with some orange peel. 93/100
Château Les Pins Ambré 2015 Rivesaltes Ambré
All the other white varieties except Muscat. This is grapey and rich with some complex spicy notes. Honey, barley sugar and some spirity notes, with a bit of appley oxidative character. Aged oxidatively in foudres and barrels. Nicely complex, and really distinctive. 93/100
Château Les Pins Muscat de Rivesaltes 2023
Two Muscats here, Petit Grains and Alexandria. The fortification is made on the skins, which gets some character from the skins. Fresh, lively, sweet, complex and beautifully balanced with nice freshness and lots of table grape, melon and honey, as well as some wild herbs and mint. Lovely complexity. Very fine. 94/100
THE ROUSSILLON
- Introduction
- Cave Dom Brial
- Domaine Bila-Haut (Chapoutier)
- Domaine la Pertuisane
- Domaine Torredemer Mangin
- Château Lauriga
- Château Nadal Hainaut
- Domaine Lafage
- Jeff Carrel
