A SINGULAR <i> PRIX-FIXE</i> MEAL

The Guide Michelin has never heard of the Chateau de Jau. Why should it have? This particular chateau is neither a hotel nor a restaurant. It does, however, serve food--a single prix-fixe meal, the same year-round, and only at lunchtime (daily during the summer and weekends from Sept. 16 to June 14). And this one prix-fixe meal, limited though it may be, is simply wonderful--especially considering the context, and the wines.

Chateau de Jau, in fact, is a winery first and foremost. It is located just northwest of Perpignan, near the village of Cases-de-Pene, in France’s Roussillon region--which is to say just north of the Spanish border, on the Mediterranean side. Wine has been made exactly here since at least 1182, and though the Roussillon in general is known mostly for its cheap red plonk and its sweet dessert and aperitif wines, the current proprietors of the Chateau de Jau, Sabine and Bernard Daure, have turned the place into a sophisticated modern wine-production facility capable of turning out a wide range of table wines of real distinction. They have also established a foundation to support contemporary art and converted one of the chateau’s old buildings into an exhibition space as sleek and handsome as anything in Paris or New York (though, of course, a good deal more charming on the outside).

There is no restaurant here per se, but there is a collection of patio chairs and tables, painted in bright green enamel, in a little stone patio on one side of the chateau. Here, beneath an immense 250-year-old mulberry tree, a perfect, simple French country meal is served (usually by the Daures’ daughter): First, a basket of fougasses au graton arrives--irregular bits of sturdy pastry moistened with pork fat specked with tiny shreds of meat. With this is served a glass of the chateau’s sweet, suave Muscat de Rivesaltes or Banyuls, two famous specialties of the region. Next comes pa amb oli i pernil , which is simply a slab of excellent country bread, lightly toasted and rubbed with olive oil and the cut side of a fresh halved tomato and topped with a piece of delicious local ham. (The name is Catalan, not French; the Roussillon is French Catalonia--and bread prepared in this manner is as popular here as it is in Catalan Spain.)

The main course consists of two thin lamb chops and a plump local sausage, full of black pepper and astonishingly flavorful, both grilled on a very hot fire of vine-cuttings. (The sausage loses much of its fat in the process, but stays moist.) With this dish, the Daures serve their Cotes du Roussillon red wine, a fruit-filled, aromatic mix of syrah, mourvedre, grenache, and carignan that approaches real elegance. Next, and almost best of all, is a piece of Roquefort accompanied by more Muscat de Rivesaltes. The Roquefort I had here one day last summer was the best Roquefort I had ever tasted, period. Bernard Daure wasn’t the least surprised when I told him so. “In the region of Perpignan,” he told me, “we get the best Roquefort in the world. And it’s not just us. Go to any good restaurant or food shop in the area, even some of the supermarkets, and you will find the Roquefort absolutely superb. We didn’t know why this should be the case, and I once asked someone from a company that produces the cheese whether there was some displaced Catalan in the business who sent us the best for sentimental reasons. He assured me that there wasn’t--and suggested that perhaps the cheese is so good here because we consume so much of it, and thus it is always very fresh.” In any case, it was truly memorable.

Rather ordinary ice cream and coffee follow, and then the added sweetness of the check: All this is a mere 100 francs (about $12 by current exchange rates) per person--though this might go up slightly in the near future.

The food alone, obviously, is worth far more than that--but the experience of eating it in this lovely chateau courtyard, cooled by breezes bearing all the scents of the surrounding wild countryside, sipping wines made just a few feet away, and feeling like you’re truly a part of the French countryside, is worth 10 times 100 francs.

Space at the Chateau de Jau’s “grill,” as they call their little patio, is very limited, so you must reserve in advance by writing the Chateau de Jau, 66600 Cases-de-Pene, France, or by calling (68) 64.11.38. Lunch is served from about noon to 2 p.m., but the chateau is open to the public from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily. The chateau’s wine maker holds informal wine-tasting classes most days from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. You could thus make a splendid half-day of it--wine-tasting, lunch, and a look at the art on exhibit.