2012 La Rectorie Banyuls "Therese Reig" 5ooml

The vines, mainly Grenache and Carignan, average over 50 years-old.  Banyuls is a coastal village in Roussillon in southern France, just next door to Spain. The hillside vineyards overlooking the village are rocky, arid, and thoroughly baked by the hot sun during the summer. One is hard-pressed to imagine anything, other than weeds and herbs, capable of thriving there. The extreme labor required make both winemakers and vines not just hardy, but also determined, though the fruits of their labor make the effort well-justified. The Banyuls Rimage vin doux naturel is made by macerating whole bunches of grapes for a few days, fermentation is stopped by adding 7-10 % of neutral alcohol (96% abv) to the must. Maceration continues for two or three weeks before pressing, during which the alcohol extracts the flavor of the grapes. These wines are typical examples of Banyuls - they have great balance and youthfulness. The red fruit flavors marrry well with the full bodied nature of the wine and the smooth grenache tannins also mask the residual sugar, usually in excess in other sweet wines. This rich character gives them a rare "drinkability" much loved by gourmands. The wine goes very well with chocolate, Banyuls and Chocolate being a famous food and wine match. The tannins found in cocoa and those found in the Grenache grape are very similar! Other food matches are Gorgonzola, red fruit salad in Spring and fresh figs with plum purée in Autumn.