what:
AOC
fortified wine
primarily from Grenache
Languedoc-Roussillon, France
where:
L’Auberge Etchegorry
41 rue Croulebarbe
Paris
when:
early spring
character:
Banyuls is the Balzac of the wine world. That is to say he is similar to
Port, but rather less buttoned-up, rather more in the way of chest hair,
and altogether more at home the closer one gets from the Mediterranean and
the farther one gets away from the English Channel. Shirt-open, mustachioed,
with a romantic mane of untended black hair, he has a hurried walk, smells
strongly of black coffee, and tends to talks (not a little) with his ink-stained
hands. He is slightly dark in mood, yet always with a lingering note of
sweetness. And he is wonderfully, magnificently concentrated. At his very
best, his powerful personality becomes more refined over time, and develops
with a finesse that is somehow particular to the Continent, particular to
the south of France, particular to that time of year when one begins to
spend long evening meals out of door.
tastes like:
Selections from
La Comedie Humaine.
pairs nicely with:
Open-collared shirts, particularly those which grow more and more open as
the night progresses, women who have a problem keeping their shoes on throughout
dinner, and long thin brightly-colored summer scarves on just about anyone;
Bleu d’Auvergne, Reblochon, and mature chèvre sec; intense
late night discussions over going to Sevilla for the bullfight (not being
in Sevilla for the bullfight, mind you, which is a different proposition
and pairs with another drink entirely, but rather the discussion of going
to the bullfight); past midnight in either Aix-en-Provence, Perpigna, or
Montpellier (France); most canvases from Cézanne’s ‘Constructive
Period’; and chocolate madeleines.