Força Réal is situated about 20 kilometers west of Perpignan near a village called Millas on the mountain slopes of the Ermitage Força Réal, and offers one of the most extraordinary panoramas of the Roussillon, a region where history has left its traces.
The origin of the Domaine goes back to at least the year 1258, with the signing of the military treaty of Corbeil, which stipulated the border between France and Catalonia. Força Réal lost its strategic significance only a few years later, however, when the frontier was redefined 30 kilometers further to the south.
Returned to nature, the property formerly occupied by a garrison of men-at-arms is now attuned to the growing cycles of vines and olive trees. With terraces of stony clay and dry slopes of schist, the Domaine Força Réal covers a total of 70 hectares, at an altitude of between 100 and 450 metres above the sea level. Ten hectares are planted to olive trees, while 40 hectares are currently dedicated to viticulture. This is a vineyard where the yields are severly limited, averaging a very low 30 hl/ha, and where deep-rooted old vines can resist the dry climate. The landscape is something of a hybrid of those in Tuscany and in Andalusia, and benefits from excellent exposure, steady winds, and near-perfect sunshine.
Thanks to these myriad factors, and the energetic direction of Jean-Paul Henriquès, a man passionate about soil and about wine, Força Réal is producing top quality wines today.

Mas de la Garrigue
(Côtes du Roussillon-Villages)

Grape Varieties: 50% Grenache
30% Carignan
15% Syrah
5% Mourvèdre
Soils: Stony clay terraces, dry schistose slopes
Harvest: Manual
Vinification: Long maceration for Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre. Carbonic maceration for Carignan.
Natural Alcohol: 12.5%

Força Réal
(Côtes du Roussillon-Villages)

Grape Varieties: 60% Syrah
30% Mourvèdre
10% Grenache
Soils: Schistose slopes and fine alluvium
Harvest: Manual
Vinification: Long traditional maceration in controlled temperature vats.
Natural Alcohol: 13%

Having left his activity as a négoce, in 1989 Jean-Paul Henriquès bought a property near the village of Millas with an unbeatableview (from the plain of Perpignan, with the sea stretching to the horizon to the peak of Canigou). Like a lot of the domaines in the region, this had been dedicated to the production of vins doux naturels. Seized by passion for the place and its vineyards, the new owner change it over and decided to produce wines there arising out of different ambitions, above all reds with the appellation Côtes du Roussillon-Villages.
So he replanted the hillsides and plateaux that make up the property, in Syrah and Mourvèdre, with a view to thoroughly distinguish among the types of terroirs, which range from 100 to 450 metres above sea level. Among the existing vines he retained only the Malvoisie, a variety for which he has an affection, as well as the old grenache and carignan vines.
He optimizes the 40 hectares in production by elaborating three cuvées corresponding to the general soil types. To best realize his objectives the cellar was equipped with the correct tools (stainless steel tanks, pneumatic press, etc.). Since last year there has been a sorting table. Now that it's become too small the barrel cellar will be reconstructed with an eye to its relation with the reception area for the harvested grapes.
Off to the left, the schist slope situated at the highest altitude and devoted to Syrah permitted the beacon cuvée of the Domaine, Les Hauts de Força Réal (70% Syrah), to succeed. With flavors of vanilla, grilled meats, and toast, today it expresses best its beautiful maturation in new wood. Behind these pointers, the wine brings a superb and generous body, with allure and finesse.
The other remarkable wine, Domaine Força Réal, equally deriving from soils of schist, issues, for its part, from grenache (70%). At first easier, it presents a similar character, always with distinction, and a potential which reveals itself in a firm and juicy finish.