There are no vineyards in France more startling to the eye than those that cascade down to the Mediterranean Sea just north of where the Pyrenees divide France from Spain. These logic-defying vines, grown on unnumbered terraces hewn out of the cliffs, also give rise to wines of great originality and quality. La Cave de l’Abbé Rous is essentially a co-operative of small growers in the choicest sections of Banyuls and Collioure. It makes wines at the highest quality level of the two appellations.
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Available Wines
The finest Banyuls, aged for a minimum of six years in small oak casks, is a wine of transcendent quality. The nose is redolent of oranges macerated in brandy, giving way to a palate of silky intensity and great persistence. Superb dessert wine.
With 55 gm. Of residual sugar, this is only “sec” in comparison with the Reynal. But, after aging for nine years in cask, the wine has achieved a spicy, gingery savor that effortlessly overcomes the sweetness and delivers a superbly fondu palate. This would be a brilliant match for hard mountain cheeses.
This is the apotheosis of Banyuls Rimage, conjured from the most perfectly ripe Grenache grapes of the appellation and transmuted into a supreme elixir. A wine that may change you forever. Minute production.
(100% Grenache) The marriage of Collioure’s schistous soils and Grenache has claims to being the most magical that there is. Certainly the Rhône workhorse grape attains here a degree of grace and bouyancy that is hard to emulate in such torrid climes as Châteauneuf du Pape and Gigondas. This is a silky and delicious red of great versatility.
Going back to 1998, this delicious dessert wine has established itself as a brighter, less alcoholic alternative to Port. It is also an especially pretty expression of the Grenache grape. Its affinity with bitter chocolate is by now a received truth.
