Pyrenees vacation - Banyuls sur Mer (winery)

After Frau A and I finished the Pyrenean hiking part of our vacation (See here for days 1, 2, 3, and 4), we had a couple of days to explore the cultural side of Banyuls sur Mer, on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.

Being in France, the first thing we looked for was a winery tour.  Naturally, there were plenty of options.  One was particularly interesting:  Cellier des Templiers.  We booked a tour (rarely conducted in English).

The organization consists of 750 winegrowers who formed a coperative in 1950, and then a formal sales and marketing entity in the 1980s.  But what is most interesting is that they cultivate grapes in almost the same manner as the original winegrowers from the 6th century: on terraced land, worked exclusively by hand.

Wine growing history here can be traced through Roman rule and the Middle Ages -- when the Knights Templar improved the organization and processes of agriculture.  The terraces are a legacy of this approach to viticulture. 

The Banyuls region is especially known for fortified, sweet wines (mainly red).  The primnary grape varieties are Grenache Gris (Grenache Noir), Grenache Blanc, and Carignan, with other varieties allowed but seldom used.  

As in making port, alcohol is added to halt the fermentation process while the natural sugar levels are high.
Our tour guide spent quite a bit of time walking us through the process, complete with a wall diagram.

The wine is aged in oak barrels.  It takes a minimum of 10 months for Banyuls AOC (appellation d'origine controlee, French protected designation), and 30 months for Banyuls Grand Cru (a superior designation).

In the photo below, you can see the walkways snaking around the cellar and providing access to the barrel tops.
On top of each is a stopper - testers drop a glass down for a sample, and taste/test the wine periodically.

Different cellars were set aside for different grapes or designations.  This one had the largest (!) barrels:

A unique part of the process for some of the varieties is that they are also aged outside.  (The process is called maderise, after Madiera wine which also involves outside heating and oxidation of the wine.)

We went from the top of the cellar, to the outside aging area, and back inside on the lower level of a cellar:

The tour guide paused a bit... she obviously loved being there.  It was cool, quiet, and smelled great!

This was the single largest barrel in the cellar (below):  over 1000 hl.

We ended the tour with some tasting, and of course purchased some that we liked best.  Oddly, I preferred the "regular" Banyuls to the Grand Cru.  The Banyuls' fortified/sweet wines are a great change of pace to the Italian reds that we typically have with dinner.  Definitely recommended.

Ther are other wineries, of course, but this had the best combination of size, history, and "brand name".  As you'll see in forthcoming posts, we moved on to the Mediterranean acquarium and a walk around town...