| Region | |
|---|---|
| Subregion | France > Vin Doux Naturel > Banyuls |
| Type | Fortified |
In 1959 the growers of the village of Banyuls in South-West France (near the border with Spain) decided to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founding of their "coopérative" by filling an oak barrel with wine made from the best Grenache grapes picked at the end of October and the beginning of November. The barrel remained untouched until last year when the wine was finally bottled, and Farr Vintners is delighted to have purchased all the bottles that are available for the UK.
Tasting Note : Deep tawny brown colour with viscous texture. Smoky and roasted on the nose with concentrated raisin and christmas cake fruit. Like an old Madeira in character. Rich, sweet and viscous on the palate with generous warmth in alcohol. Dried fruit character, combined with sweet caramel and smokiness. Not the acidity of Madeira but well balanced and structured. A complete, sweet, lingering finish.
...Seriously good-value sweet wine antiques that you can drink over quite a time as they retain their fruit and freshness well in an opened bottle...Roussillon around Perpignan just north of the Pyrenees has for decades been most famous with French wine drinkers for its strong sweet wines with names such as Banyuls, Maury and Rivesaltes. These depend mainly on old Grenache bushvines in varying colours of grapes which reach great ripeness in the region’s hot, windy summers. They are typically vinified like port, the grape sugar being retained in the wine by stopping fermentation with added alcohol (particularly strong and pure in this case), and are then aged in wood or glass for very long periods. Some wines here are put into glass bonbonnes and even deliberately exposed to heat as in the Madeira process. The result is a wide range of different strong, sweet wines (vins doux naturels in French) which are virtually indestructible but, while they fit in to a wine drinker’s repertoire very much like a port, they are much rarer than port and many tasters, even quite experienced ones, have little exposure to the various styles on offer.
Banyuls Grand Cru 1959 - Dark, vibrant ruby/fox red. More concentrated nose than the 1965 but more raisiny – less refreshing. A bit dry and dusty on the finish. 16.5 per cent
