🍷 Banyuls

Banyuls is a vin doux naturel with a protected designation of origin from four communes of the Côte Vermeille: Banyuls-sur-Mer, Cerbère, Collioure and Port-Vendres, France's southernmost vineyard. It is made red, rosé, white and amber by adding neutral grape spirit to fermenting must, which stops fermentation and keeps the grape's sugar in the wine. ¹²³

Between sea and mountain. The area lies «mar i mont», between sea and mountain in Catalan: the land rises from the shore to 917 m at the Pic de Sailfort. The bedrock is brown Cambrian schist that gives poor, fast-draining soils, and vines are terraced up to 400 m. The area gets over 2,600 hours of sun a year, averages 15 °C and receives under 650 mm of rain, and the dry tramontane blows about 130 days a year. ³

Terraces, gobelets and hand harvest. Countless dry-stone walls hold the terraces, and they must be kept up with traditional materials; irrigation is banned. Vines are planted at least 4,000 per hectare, trained as gobelets or fans and pruned short to at most seven spurs. Grapes are picked by hand in successive passes, the must needs at least 252 g/l of natural sugar, and the yield is set at 30 hl of must per hectare, with an absolute cap of 40. ³

Grenache in every colour. Grenache noir, gris and blanc are the backbone, with Macabeu and Tourbat, known locally as Malvoisie du Roussillon, for white and amber wines. Minor varieties include Carignan, Syrah, Mourvèdre, Cinsault, Counoise and the Muscats. A «traditionnel» wine needs at least 50% Grenache noir, and «rimage» is made mainly from Grenache noir. ³

How mutage works. Neutral grape spirit of at least 96% vol. is added to the fermenting must or to the grapes themselves («mutage sur grains»), at 5–10% of the must volume in pure alcohol, before 31 December of the harvest year. Enrichment and anything that changes the colour are banned. The finished wine has at least 15% actual alcohol, 21.5% total alcohol and 45 g/l of sugar. ³ EU rules let France reserve the term «vin doux naturel» for wines from Muscat, Grenache, Macabeo or Malvasia, with must of at least 252 g/l and yields of no more than 40 hl/ha. ⁴

Rimage, ambré, hors d'âge. «Rimage», Catalan for «wine of the year», is a red Grenache wine muted on the grapes and aged away from air at least until 1 May after the harvest. White and rosé are made from juice separated from the skins before fermentation. «Ambré» and «traditionnel» age in contact with air at least until 1 September of the second year, «hors d'âge» until 1 September of the fifth year, and «rancio» is reserved for wines that have taken on the rancio taste. ³

From the Phoenicians to the smugglers. The specification traces local winegrowing to the Phoenicians, who planted vines from Collioure about seven centuries BC. Terraces date from the early Middle Ages and were extended by the Templars, and in 1207 James I of Majorca encouraged the wine trade. After the region became French in 1659, the intendant of Roussillon offered planting grants in 1773 to turn smugglers into winegrowers. Under the old «bail à complant» lease, growers own the vines but not the land, and it still applies to over half the plots. ³

From dry wine to vin doux naturel. In the 19th century Banyuls was famous for dry whites that crossed the Atlantic, and phylloxera struck in 1885. The Arago law of 1872 and the Pams law of 1898 gave naturally sweet wines a special tax status, so the vineyard turned to vins doux naturels. Growers formed a union in 1902, the area was delimited on 18 September 1909, and the AOC was recognised on 6 August 1936. Today about 20,000 hl are made a year, 75% red, by some thirty private estates and three co-operatives, the largest making 80% of the wine. ³

On the label. The bottle must carry one of the words «ambré», «blanc», «rosé», «rimage» or «traditionnel», so you know the colour and style before opening. «Hors d'âge» guarantees at least five years of ageing, and «rancio» marks the deep, nutty taste of long oxidative ageing. The same terraces also make the dry wines of Collioure, so their combined yield is capped. ³