Since the first vintage of The Bottle Room, we have been proud to collaborate with this great domain run by Andy Cook, Phillipe Gard and Julien Grill. They make great hand-crafted wines under several labels: Tramontane, Mas Cristine, Consolation and Coume del Mas. The estate is at the Southern edge of the Côtes du Roussillon Appellation but they make wines under several other appalations as well: Banyuls, Collioure, IGP Cotes Catalanes and Côtes du Roussillon.

Philippe is trained as an agricultural engineer and winemaker, and has consulted for many top Bordeaux Châteaux, and elsewhere in the world. He owns Domaine Coume del Mas in Banyuls, and lives there with his wife Natalie and their three girls. 

Andy trained as a winemaker in New Zealand, and has worked buying, selling, judging and promoting wine and whisky for 20 years. He lives in the Roussillon with his wife Kirsten and their two sons.

It takes a dedicated team of hardworking individuals to prune, work, tend and pick the vineyards here. The rocky soils and extreme climate of the region mean low yields – around 20hl/Ha (roughly half a bottle of wine per vine).

The local varieties they use are: Grenache (blanc/noir/gris), Syrah, Mourvèdre, Carignan (noir/gris), Roussanne, Marsanne, Muscat and Rolle (vermentino). These varieties provide the perfect scope for making excellent wines, full of character. Careful work in the vineyard and winery is needed to ensure balance and finesse.

Each year is different, and brings a different set of rules for wine style, vinification and elevage. The wines they make are for the most part an adventure with a single varietal. This allows them to discover the essence of each variety they grow, and to search for their interpretation of the purest expression of each cultivar.