La Mariota - Renaissance in Roussillon
May 29, 2025
La Mariota
Vingrau & Tautavel, Roussillon, France
There’s something quietly radical happening in the far reaches of southern France. In a region more famous for sun, stone, and big rustic reds—or heady fortified wines—La Mariota is carving a completely new path. The wines here are bright, lifted, and impossibly drinkable, full of texture and clarity. If you think you know the Roussillon, you might want to think again.
La Mariota is the passion project of Cecilia Diaz and Guillermo Campos, a husband-and-wife team whose path to winemaking was anything but traditional. Both born in Argentina, they met in Mallorca, worked for years in some of Europe’s top restaurants—from London to Cannes, Geneva to Paris—and eventually followed their instincts (and palates) south, settling in the village of Vingrau in 2018. There, amid windswept garrigue and ancient bush vines, they planted the seeds of a quiet revolution.
They started with just 1.7 hectares of vines. Today they farm about 7 hectares, all organically certified, spread between Vingrau and neighboring Tautavel. The holdings are a patchwork of very old vines—some up to a century old—of Carignan, Grenache Noir and Blanc, Mourvèdre, Syrah, Muscat, Maccabeu, and Roussanne. Low yields are the norm here, not the exception, resulting in tiny quantities of deeply expressive wine. Production is tiny.
Every parcel is vinified and aged separately, with the utmost care and a low-intervention philosophy—native yeast, no additives, minimal sulfur. Each blend is the result of precise tasting and intuitive decision-making, rather than recipe or habit. The results are striking: five cuvées that pulse with energy, driven more by acidity and balance than brawn. Everything is harvested by hand, fermented with indigenous yeasts, with minimal oak usage.
Where most wines in the region lean broad and brooding, La Mariota’s feel light on their feet—saline, spiced, and whispery, with the kind of structure that makes you sit up and take notice, and then go back for another sip (or bottle). They’re wines that pair just as naturally with a summer lunch in the sun as with a long conversation into the night.
It’s hard not to love what Cecilia and Guillermo are doing. Their wines aren’t just expressive—they feel like a personal conversation with the place, filtered through a uniquely global perspective and a deep reverence for tradition, minus the dogma.
These are not your typical Roussillon wines—and that’s exactly why we’re so excited about them. Production is tiny, but the impact is big. Seek them out while you still can.
