Exploring the Roussillon (5) Torredemer Mangin
Website: https://torredemer-mangin.com/
Torredemer Mangin is an exciting new producer in the Roussillon. It’s a collaboration between Romain Torredemer (aged 33) and Thomas Mangin (aged 30, pictured above), who are grandsons of winegrowers who have put together a new domaine, with 40 hectares of organically grown vines in a part of the Roussillon called Vingrau. I met with Thomas over dinner to hear the story and taste the wines.
Their families are from south Catalonia, and came to the Roussillon, the northern outpost of Catalan country, back in the 1930s.
Thomas’ father manufactured electrical cables and Thomas studied at Lancaster in the UK and then started working in the supply chain in Switzerland. But he visited the Roussillon for holidays, spending extended time here. That’s where he met Romain, who was already working in viticulture and winemaking. He told Romain he was going to get the rented vineyards back, and at that stage Thomas says he didn’t even know the grape varieties back.
So Thomas and Romain had the idea of forming this domain from vineyard holdings that their families owned but had been rented out in 2019, and in 2021 they made 1000 bottles in Romain’s garage, although they were still involved with the cooperative. In 2022, the cooperative said either in or out, so they left. Suddenly they had 40 hectares of vineyards but had only made 1000 bottles to this point. Clearly, they were going to need to scale up substantially!
They found a cellar at the last minute, and made 40 000 bottles. 15 hectares of the 40 were in a bad state, so this brought yields down. And they sold some grapes as well as making some bulk wine. This proved to be a bad decision as the price on the market was very bad. But they managed to sell all their bottled wine.
The second vintage was 2023, and they made 60 000 bottles, and in the third vintage they wanted to make 80 000 bottles, but only made 50 because it was such a low yielding year (10 hl/hectare). They are no longer selling grapes, although the grape prices aren’t bad here. It all depends where you are, and Vingrau has a great reputation. They could get €1500 per tonne from organic grapes here, although the lowest price in the region is €500/tonne.
It was Vingrau that prompted them to begin the project. ‘We were convinced that we had an amazing terroir,’ says Thomas. ‘We saw that we had something different here: it is the best limestone terroir in the Roussillon. The beauty of the Roussillon is that we have this matrix of soils.’
The vineyards are on hills that range from 600 m to 150 m. The limestone is Jurassic, and down the slope the soils are colluvial, while at the bottom you get more marne. The higher the terrace the more limestone.
Torredemer Mangin Papillon Blanc 2024 Côtes Catalanes, France
Grenache Gris, Grenache Blanc and Macabeu (planted in 1907). 50% fermented in demi muids. This is fine, mineral and taut with fine-grained structure and nice citrus fruit. Finely spiced, with notes of pear, grapefruit and some juicy focus. Stony and detailed. 94/100
Torredemer Mangin Sinopia 2024 Côtes Catalanes, France
13% alcohol. This is Grenache, with one day’s infusion in tank, then fermented in stainless steel. Fresh and sappy with nice juicy cherry and raspberry fruit with good energy. This shows nice acidity and it’s grippy, delicious, light and fresh, but not too simple. 93/100
Torredemer Mangin Orage 2024 Vin de France
This is 50% Muscat d’Alexandria and 50% Muscat a Petit Grains. They do two harvests, one at 12% potential alcohol, and one at 14%, using machines. It’s one-quarter of their production, because they have 7 hectares of Muscat. Spends 14 days on skins. Salty with some table grape character, some citrus and just enough structure to offset the exotic grapey notes. Such precision here. 94/100
Torredemer Mangin Papillon Rouge 2024 Côtes Catalanes, France
60% Grenache, 40% Carignan, all destemmed. Demi-muids, after pigeage for 5 days. Lovely fruit purity here. Fresh and detailed with a mineral twist, a hint of iron. Fresh, floral and expressive. 94/100
Torredemer Mangin Tarda 2022 Côtes Catalanes, France
Late harvested Muscat a Petit Grains. This is fermented for 4-5 days and then it is filtered very tightly to remove yeast and keep the sugar that’s not been used up. Beautiful depth and power here: sweet, spicy and detailed, with intense grapey fruit. Rich but so balanced with fine spicy notes. 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
