Roussillo politician François Aragon convinced the French government to legally recognize the style of vin doux naturels as wines which had residual sugar and sweetness retained from having their fermentation stopped with grape spirits. In 1936, the Institut national de l'origine et de la qualité (INAO) established Maury as an officially recognized AOC. Climate and geography As part of the Roussillon region the climate of Maury is warm, dry and very Mediterranean influenced. The nearby town of Perpignan is one of the sunniest places in all of France with an average annal temperature of . However Maury's location northwest of Perpignan, in the hilly hinterlands of the Agly valley, does temper some of the Mediterranean influence with westward winds from the Atlantic, bringing a slightly cooler influence to the valley. Similar to the Mistral influence in the Rhône, the dry northward wind Tramontane serves to cool the grapes but is much more gentle and less frequent than the powerful Mistral that can damage the vines. In the shadow of the remains of the Cathar stronghold Château de Quéribus, the soils of Maury are mix of schist and slate. Closer to the communes of Lesquerde the soil includes more granite, while near the town of Tautavel in the east the soil contains high portions of the argilo-calcaire vineyard soils of clay and limestone. Winemaking As a vin doux naturel (or VdN) Maury wines undergo a unique form of winemaking that shares elements with other notable fortified wines like Port, Sherry, Madeira and vin de liqueur. An English translation of the name would be "wines naturally sweet" and refers to the natural residual sugars of the grapes that are left unfermented in the wine. However these sugars are left because of the outside addition of grape spirits (or brandy) added early in the fermentation period that kills the yeast and halts the fermentation process. This process, called mutage leaves a partially fermented must (called the vin muté) with 6 to 12% alcohol from the fermentation and 5-10% alcohol by volume from the brandy. The amount of residual sugar left in the wine will vary from 50 to 125 g/L (5 to 12.5% RS). Prior to fermentation, the grapes destined for Maury production (predominantly Grenache) are harvested very ripe usually with a potential alcohol level (based on the amount of grape sugar alone) at 14.5% (around 25 to 27°Bx or 13.8 to 15