Maury

🇫🇷 France

AOC Rare find

Two appellations in one since 2011: the historic Maury Doux (VDN sweet wines aged in outdoor glass bonbonnes) AND the new Maury Sec for powerful dry reds. Century-old Grenache and Carignan find their voice in both.

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Region profile

History

Winemaking in the Agly Valley traces to the 6th century BC when Phoenicians introduced vines. Arnau de Vilanova perfected the mutage technique (stopping fermentation with spirit) around 1285 at the courts of Majorca and Perpignan. Monastic orders developed viticulture near abbeys through the Middle Ages. Maury gained AOC status in 1936 for VDN only. For decades, growers making dry reds had to label them IGP Côtes Catalanes. Finally in 2011, INAO created "Maury Sec" for dry reds, and renamed the original appellation "Maury Doux." Mas Amiel's domain was famously won in a card game by a bishop in 1816.

Climate
Hot continental Mediterranean; black schist soils absorb intense heat; sheltered Agly Valley surrounded by Corbières mountains; four communes: Maury, Rasiguères, Saint-Paul-de-Fenouillet, Tautavel
Signature wines
Mas Amiel "Vintage" (VDN) or "Pur Schiste" (Sec) - Founded 1816, this 170-hectare benchmark estate was transformed when Olivier Decelle took over in 1999. The VDN "Vintage" ages in bonbonnes for concentrated raisin and chocolate character. The dry "Pur Schiste" from century-old Grenache and Carignan proves Maury terroir works for both sweet and dry. Now organic and biodynamic. Around $20-40.
What sets it apart
The 2011 dual-appellation split was revolutionary: same terroir, same grapes, two completely different wines with legal identity. Those 4,000 glass bonbonnes aging outdoors at Mas Amiel are a surreal sight - a wine forest shimmering in Roussillon heat.

Facts

  • Mas Amiel ages its VDN wines in 4,000 glass bonbonnes (demi-johns) sitting outdoors under the Roussillon sun - a forest of glass vessels slowly oxidizing wine through temperature extremes from freezing winter nights to 40°C summer days.

Region profile from the Wine Memories wine-data corpus · verified January 2026