2018 Collioure, Côté Mer, Domaine de la Rectorie, Languedoc-Roussillon
About this WINE
Domaine de la Rectorie
Banyuls is just down the road from Collioure and, whereas one is more famous for red and one for white, they both share the same extraordinary beauty, with a luminous Mediterranean backdrop framing natural bays with steep sea-facing vineyards and balmy breezes. Domaine de la Rectorie, run by the Parce family for over a century, has had the good sense to make wine in both appellations.
Collioure has gained plaudits over the last few decades for the quality of its white wines, but one should not forget that red grapes are still more planted here and that not too long ago they would all have gone into Banyuls.
Their Montage cuvée is planted, as the name suggests, on the highest vineyards and is picked relatively late; it is a fascinating blend of equal proportions of Carignan, Grenache, Counoise and Mouvèdre. The Counoise is especially interesting, celebrated by, amongst others, the Perrins at Château de Beaucastel, and adds aromas of violet and even jasmine to the ensemble.
Cuvée Leon Parce is a classic fortified Banyuls, the Grenache having been allowed to macerate for three weeks in the neutral alcohol (96 % abv), which is added fairly quickly to arrest the initial fermentation. This extended maceration, allied to the innate thickness of the Grenache skins, ensures a purity of structure and avoids any danger of confection.
Simon Field MW, Wine Buyer
Syrah/Shiraz
A noble black grape variety grown particularly in the Northern Rhône where it produces the great red wines of Hermitage, Cote Rôtie and Cornas, and in Australia where it produces wines of startling depth and intensity. Reasonably low yields are a crucial factor for quality as is picking at optimum ripeness. Its heartland, Hermitage and Côte Rôtie, consists of 270 hectares of steeply terraced vineyards producing wines that brim with pepper, spices, tar and black treacle when young. After 5-10 years they become smooth and velvety with pronounced fruit characteristics of damsons, raspberries, blackcurrants and loganberries.
It is now grown extensively in the Southern Rhône where it is blended with Grenache and Mourvèdre to produce the great red wines of Châteauneuf du Pape and Gigondas amongst others. Its spiritual home in Australia is the Barossa Valley, where there are plantings dating as far back as 1860. Australian Shiraz tends to be sweeter than its Northern Rhône counterpart and the best examples are redolent of new leather, dark chocolate, liquorice, and prunes and display a blackcurrant lusciousness.
South African producers such as Eben Sadie are now producing world- class Shiraz wines that represent astonishing value for money.
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