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It covers 90 villages of Pyrénées Orientales and 9 of Aude, and it includes appellations of Banyuls, Maury et Rivesaltes.
Crossed by 3 rivers - l’Agly, la Têt and le Tech – which have shaped a relief of tiered terraces and hills, the vineyard of Rivesaltes covers vastly different soils: sometimes white, like the rollers of medium and high terraces or arenas of granite of the Albères.
Either black or brown, as are the shales of the valley of the Agly.
This variety of reliefs and soils explain the diversity of many terroirs.
Muscat de Rivesaltes can be elabored with two grapes,the Muscat d’Alexandrie and the Muscat à petits grains. The proportion varies according to producers. The Muscat à petits grains gives flavours of exotic and citrus fruits, while the Muscat d’Alexandrie gives fullness and flavours or ripped fruits and fineness of white flowers.
The colour and the taste of Muscat de Rivesaltes vary according to the proportion of each grape and the maturation. Generally, wines are bottled very quickly with the aim of keeping freshness. These Muscats have a pale gold colour with green or pink reflects. Its have flavours of peach, lemon, mango and mint. To preserve all these flavours, some Muscat de Rivesaltes, called “Muscat de Noël” are sold very young. Others can be kept several years. The colour changes to amber and flavours evolve to honey and crystallized apricot.
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