Overview
Four days based in Perpignan, capital of French Catalonia, riding up the Agly valley into some of the most dramatic vineyard country in France: black schist and limestone crags, the Corbières rising to the north, and the ruined Cathar castles of Quéribus and Peyrepertuse on the skyline above Maury.
The three domaines you named sit in a neat line along that valley — Château de Jau at Cases-de-Pène, Domaine des Schistes at Estagel, and Mas Amiel at Maury — which turns them into a single day's ride rather than three separate expeditions. Better still, the département has just opened the Estagel–Maury section of the V81 voie verte: three metres wide, surfaced and car-free, covering exactly the stretch that used to mean sharing the D117 with lorries.
And Mas Amiel is worth the ride on its own. Two thousand-odd glass bonbonnes stand out in the open air for a full year, sun and frost doing the oxidising, before the Maury goes into barrel — a piece of theatre you can walk straight into, with the Serre de Vingrau behind and the vines running up to it.
Getting There
| Outbound | Friday 23 October — Ryanair, Stansted → Perpignan (PGF), ~2h05, from around £33–60 one way. Check the October schedule: this route runs on selected days rather than daily |
| Return | Monday 26 October — Perpignan → Stansted, from ~£35–70 |
| Airport → city | Perpignan airport is 6km from the centre — bus or a €20 taxi, about 15 minutes. Comfortably the shortest transfer of the nineteen |
| If the schedule does not suit | Fly to Barcelona (~2h, many daily) and take the train north to Perpignan, about 1h20 on the high-speed line. Girona, Toulouse and Montpellier all work as alternatives too |
| Bikes | Hire in Perpignan — several outfits including e-bikes, and some will deliver to the hotel |
Day by Day
Friday 23 October — Arrive & Perpignan
- Late-morning flight to Perpignan; in the old town by early afternoon — the shortest airport transfer on the whole list.
- The Palace of the Kings of Majorca, a 13th-century fortress-palace from the brief period when Perpignan was a royal capital, and Le Castillet, the red-brick gate that is the city's emblem.
- Perpignan is emphatically Catalan — the street signs are bilingual, the flag is the Catalan quatre barres, and Dalí once declared the railway station the centre of the universe.
- Evening: Catalan cooking and a first glass of dry Côtes du Roussillon.
Saturday 24 October — Up the Agly: Jau, Schistes & Mas Amiel
- The big day, and the reason for the trip. West out of Perpignan through Rivesaltes and up the Agly valley, the crags closing in as you go.
- Château de Jau at Cases-de-Pène, about 18km — a handsome estate under the cliffs of the Serre de Vingrau, run by the Dauré family, who also own Clos de Paulilles down on the Banyuls coast.
- Domaine des Schistes at Estagel, about 26km — the Sire family's estate, named for the black schist that gives the wines their smoky, mineral grip. Côtes du Roussillon Villages and Maury from the same soils.
- Join the new V81 greenway for the last stretch — car-free, surfaced, three metres wide — up to Mas Amiel at Maury, about 38km from Perpignan. The demijohn field, the vintage Maury, and the Cathar castle of Quéribus on the ridge above.
- Home either with the tramontane behind you — it blows down the valley towards the sea, so the return is the easy half — or by pre-booked minibus with the bikes.
Sunday 25 October — The Agly greenway to the sea
- Clocks back overnight. A flat, easy recovery day: the Voie Verte de l'Agly runs about 14km from Rivesaltes down the river dyke to Le Barcarès and the Mediterranean — car-free the whole way, through riverbank, wetland and umbrella pine, with Canigou standing over the plain behind you.
- Lunch at the sea; the Étang de Leucate and the coastal lagoons are full of flamingos in October.
- Optional on the way back: the Mémorial du Camp de Rivesaltes, a stark concrete building half-buried in the ground on the site of the internment camp that held Spanish Republicans, Jews and Roma. Sobering, superbly done, and not what anyone expects from a wine weekend.
- ~35km flat. Return bikes; last dinner in Perpignan.
Monday 26 October — Collioure, then home
- Train south to Collioure (about 30 minutes) if the flight allows — the anchovy port where Matisse and Derain invented Fauvism in 1905, with Banyuls terraces climbing the hills behind and the sea usually still swimmable.
- Back to Perpignan and the short hop to the airport; evening flight to Stansted.
Festivals & Local Events
Visa pour l’Image, Perpignan — early September
One of the world's major photojournalism festivals takes over the city's historic buildings each September, with free exhibitions running into mid-September. Six weeks before our weekend.
October is quiet here — deliberately so
Roussillon picks early because it is hot and dry, so by late October the harvest is comfortably done and the domaines have time. There is no large festival competing for beds, which is exactly the problem we set out to solve.
Fête de la Saint-Martin — 11 November
The traditional date across Catalan country for tasting the new wine, with chestnuts and the first vin nouveau. A fortnight after our weekend.
Cargolades — year-round, but especially autumn
Not a festival so much as an institution: hundreds of snails grilled over vine cuttings with aioli, eaten outdoors at long tables. Ask locally — village associations run them through the autumn.
Christmas and the caga tió
If a December trip ever tempts, Catalan Christmas traditions here are gloriously strange and worth seeing.
The Region in Brief
A little history
Roussillon was Catalan long before it was French: it belonged to the Crown of Aragon and then to Spain, and only passed to France under the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659 — which is why the language, the food and the flags are Catalan and the locals call it Catalunya Nord. Perpignan was briefly the mainland capital of the Kingdom of Majorca in the 13th and 14th centuries, and its fortress-palace survives. The high crags above Maury carry the Cathar castles — Quéribus, which held out until 1255 as one of the last refuges of the Cathar heresy, and Peyrepertuse strung along its ridge. Mas Amiel itself is said to have been won from the Bishop of Perpignan in a card game in 1816.
October weather
The sunniest option on the list: typically 12–23°C in late October, dry and brilliantly clear — Perpignan is among the sunniest cities in France. The variable is the tramontane, a strong dry wind out of the north-west that funnels down the Agly valley; it can blow hard for days, and the trick is to ride out into it and come home with it behind you.
The wines
Grenache in all three colours on schist, gneiss and limestone, giving dry reds of real depth from Côtes du Roussillon Villages, Maury and Collioure. But the region's glory is the vins doux naturels — fortified wines whose fermentation is stopped with grape spirit: Maury, Banyuls and Rivesaltes, aged oxidatively for years, sometimes outdoors in glass demijohns as at Mas Amiel, developing the walnut-and-coffee character the French call rancio. Banyuls with dark chocolate is one of the great pairings.
The food
Catalan and generous: escalivada, boles de picolat (meatballs with olives and cèpes), cargolade, anchovies from Collioure, ollada soup, and crème catalane. Rousquilles — soft aniseed biscuits under white icing — with a glass of Rivesaltes. And Banyuls with chocolate, which is the correct end to any meal here.
Where to Stay
Hôtel La Villa Duflot
An art-deco villa in two hectares of grounds just outside the centre — quiet, with a pool and a good kitchen.
Le Mas des Arcades
Comfortable and practical, with parking and easy access out towards the Agly for the Saturday ride.
Riberach
A converted co-operative cellar turned design hotel with a Michelin-starred restaurant and its own vineyard — the splurge, and closer to the domaines if you would rather not base in the city.
The Wineries
Mas Amiel
The estate you came for. Vintage and aged Maury, serious dry reds, and the extraordinary open-air field of bonbonnes where the wine spends a year oxidising under sun and frost. Book the visit ahead.
Domaine des Schistes
Named for the black schist beneath it, and making both taut dry Côtes du Roussillon Villages and superb old Maury. Welcoming, unpretentious, and directly on the route.
Château de Jau
A fine old estate under the cliffs, with a contemporary art centre and summer grill restaurant on site — both usually seasonal, so check before relying on lunch there. Tastings should be available; email ahead.
Domaine Gauby or Le Soula
Gérard Gauby at Calce is one of the pioneers of the modern Roussillon and a cult name in natural wine circles. Small; email well in advance if the group is keen.
Eat & Drink
| Friday | Catalan dinner in Perpignan old town |
| Saturday | Village lunch at Estagel or Maury on the ride |
| Sunday | Seafood at Le Barcarès; last dinner in Perpignan |
| Monday | Anchovies and a glass at Collioure before the flight |
Useful Links
- Perpignan Tourism — official tourist office — the palace, Le Castillet, events
- Mas Amiel — the estate at Maury, its demijohns and visiting information
- Roussillon Wines (CIVR) — the official wine board — appellations, vins doux naturels, producers
- Voie Verte de l’Agly — the flat car-free greenway from Rivesaltes to the sea
- Pyrénées-Orientales — V81 Agly valley — the département site, including the new Estagel–Maury greenway section
Practical Notes
- Shortest airport transfer of the nineteen — Perpignan airport is 6km from the middle of town.
- Check the Ryanair schedule first. Stansted–Perpignan runs on selected days rather than daily, and the whole plan hangs off it. Barcelona plus a 1h20 train is the fallback.
- Ride out, not back, into the wind. The tramontane blows down the Agly towards the sea, so the outbound leg is the work and the return is the reward — or book a minibus from Maury and skip the question.
- Three tastings in one day is a lot. Keep the pours small at Jau and Schistes, and save the appetite for Mas Amiel.
- Château de Jau's art centre and restaurant are seasonal and may well be shut in late October — confirm before planning lunch around them.
- Quéribus is above Maury if anyone fancies the Cathar castle — but it is a steep climb on top of a 38km day. A taxi from Maury is the civilised answer.
- Clocks change overnight on 24–25 October.