Banyuls (VDN)
Banyuls ( AOC ) is a sweet wine from France that thrives on the steep slopes in the hinterland of the Côte Vermeille around the small town of Banyuls-sur-Mer and is usually matured in small wineries. It can only be produced in the four communes of Banyuls-sur-Mer, Cerbère , Collioure and Port-Vendres in the Roussillon growing region , where the Pyrenees, or more precisely the Massif des Albères and the Mediterranean Sea , meet. The total area under vines does not exceed approx. 1400 hectares.
The Banyuls belongs to the Vin Doux Naturel (VDN) family and is therefore a fortified wine . The collioure (AOC) can be made from grapes not used for liqueur wine production, provided the wines meet the regulations. The boundaries of this appellation are identical to those of Banyuls.
Soil and grape varieties
The vines stand on very barren and mineral slate soil, which only allows very low yields. The main grape variety is Grenache . A wine that can be called Banyuls must contain at least 50 percent Grenache. For a Banyuls “ Grand Cru ” it has to be 75 percent. Other grape varieties are: Macabeo , Torbato (called Malvoisie du Roussillon here), Muscat blanc à petits grains , Muscat d'Alexandrie , Carignan , Cinsault and Syrah . The yield must not exceed 30 hl per hectare .
Manufacturing
Overripe grapes are harvested, which can already shrink like raisins on the vine (comparable to the ripeness of a German Trockenbeerenauslese ). In order to preserve the natural sugar of the grapes , the must fermentation is stopped by adding alcohol . The wine is "fortified" to a minimum of 15 percent and a maximum of 22 percent alcohol . A side effect is that the color and flavor are extracted from the grape skin faster due to the higher alcohol content. The Banyuls must then mature in large oak barrels ( barriques ) for at least ten months ; for the “ Grand Cru ” it must be at least thirty months.
The goal is often to achieve the goût du rancio (the rancio taste). The wine is exposed to all climatic fluctuations through the oxidative expansion in the barrel or in the fermentation balloon . Due to the cold in winter and the heat in summer, the wine ages faster and becomes increasingly brown (this also applies to both white and red wine, which hardly differ in color with age). It tastes very rich of raisins , nuts and plums and has a long and, despite residual sweetness, quite dry finish. The Banyuls wines are not only suitable as dessert wine , but also as an aperitif .
literature
- Jancis Robinson : The Oxford Wine Lexicon. Gräfe and Unzer Verlag, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-8338-0691-9 .
- Pierre Galet : Cépages et Vignobles de France. Lavoisier Publishing House, Paris 2004, ISBN 2-7430-0585-8 .
- Benoît France: Grand Atlas des Vignobles de France . Éditions SOLAR publishing house, Paris 2002, ISBN 2-263-03242-8 .
