If you’d like a travel tip for France, I have a good one for you: go to Corbières! A swath of hills, mountains, and small villages in southern France, the region thankfully is still largely unknown and well preserved. Living is good in those hills, with plenty of artsy villages, locavore restaurants, B&Bs with old-school charm, hikes and sites galore, and, of course—the reason we’re here—a plethora of local wines that are most often affordable and pleasantly drinkable, and, at their best, truly exceptional.
     Bruno Laboucarié, our man in the north of Corbières for the last forty years or so at Domaine de Fontsainte, embodies that quality of life by permanently beaming with joy, wearing his smile from ear to ear. Maxime Magnon, our guy in the south of Corbières, on the border of Catalan country, left his home in Burgundy (where the livin’ ain’t too bad, either) to settle down in the bohemian-tinged village of Durban-Corbières. Both make wines full of pride, joy, and depth.
     While Fontsainte may be most famous for their Gris de Gris, the Demoiselle rouge cuvée has always been their hidden treasure, so to speak. Gnarled vines, well over a century old, surrounding the historic Laboucarié family home reliably churn out year after year a strawberry fruit, spice, and chocolate-toned rouge that, while rich and full, remains balanced.
      Maxime Magnon is also an aficionado of old vines, which he farms assisted by cows, sheep, horses, and a donkey, and from which he manages to produce incredibly pure, velvety smooth wines that deeply reflect their terroirs. His blanc, La Bégou, is what I would want a Corbières grand cru to taste like, if they had that sort of thing there—regal, rich, and savory. His Rozeta rouge has a fun and uplifting Beaujolais-like black cherry spritz thing going on at first glance, which rapidly gives way to a gutsy, intense, rock-infused soul. A recent article in the French press summed up my thoughts exactly on Maxime’s wines as possessing “both density and depth, of a disconcerting ease to be drunk.”