📜 Rivesaltes
Fortified sweet wines of Roussillon, sometimes aged for decades.
Rivesaltes is an appellation of Roussillon in southern France, near the Spanish border, where fortified sweet wines are made. These are wines the French call "natural sweet": grape spirit is added to the fermenting must, so fermentation stops and the sugar stays.
The main grapes are Grenache, which comes as black, white and grey, along with Macabeu and Torbato. The wine may be red, white or rosé. The strength is usually around 15–18 percent. The area is sunny and dry, and the berries gather a lot of sugar.
The most interesting thing about Rivesaltes is the ageing. The wine can be kept in large glass bottles in the sun, where it oxidises and changes colour, or in casks in a cellar. Young wine is bright and fruity. With years it turns amber or brick-red, with notes of nuts, dried fruit, coffee and caramel. Wines aged for decades exist.
The name is protected as a PDO. Rivesaltes is a fortified wine and a sweet wine, and it is served in small portions after a meal or with desserts.
How it connects to Wine
📜 Rivesaltes ← main grape of ← 🍇 Grenache → kind of → 🍇 Grape varieties → kind of → 🍷 Wine
Links
- Where it is
- 📍 Roussillon
- Main grapes
- 🍇 Grenache, 🍇 Macabeo, 🍇 Torbato
- Wines
- 🍷 Red wine, 🍷 White wine, 🍷 Rosé, 🍷 Fortified wine, 🍷 Sweet wine
Frequently asked questions
What is Rivesaltes?
Fortified sweet wines of Roussillon in southern France, sometimes aged for decades.
What grapes make Rivesaltes?
Grenache (black, white and grey), Macabeu and Torbato.
How does Rivesaltes change with age?
It darkens to amber or brick colour and gains notes of nuts, dried fruit, coffee and caramel.
What to read next
- 🍇 Macabeo — A white Spanish grape, also called Viura; the base of white Rioja and sparkling cava.
- 🍷 White wine — Wine made from grape juice without the skins; it can come from pale and even dark berries.
- 🍷 Red wine — Wine from dark grapes that ferments with the skins and takes its colour from them.
Similar
📜 Grand Roussillon · 📜 Banyuls · 📜 Maury · 📜 Banyuls grand cru · 📜 Alghero · 📜 Rasteau
⚠️ Wine contains alcohol: adults only, drink in moderation. Wine usually contains sulphites; egg white or milk proteins are sometimes used for fining — important for allergies and for vegans.