04 Domaine du Mas Blanc ‘Collita’ [Banyuls] 17.5% abv, decanted for two hours, served over two nights. Very thick/sludgy, and decanting failed to remove all the cloudy particulates. Dark, no lightening. Nose of coffee, butterscotch, anise. Palate of cocoa, gingerbread, and rum raisins. Still very tannic to my tastes, and even though I intellectually know these need to age, greed for them gets in the way of reason, and this was popped too early. FWIW, I like Dr Parce’s efforts better than the good, and much more locally available Chapoutier’s. Good finish, 30+ seconds. The collita level bottling doesn’t spend as much time on the skins as the rimage does, but I think these are still very ageworthy. I don’t find much consistency in Banyuls pricing at retail - they can be all over the place but my view is that their value proposition is that they offer a vintage port like experience at an LBV price, and are particularly well suited to chocolate desserts. (Although we had this with strawberries and whipped cream, which probably earns some sommelier demerits somewhere) I’ve always liked these more than most other people so assign it an A-. NB This is a fortified dessert wine - the blanc is part of the estate name.
I still have yet to try any of Dr. Parce’s dry wines, which apparently the estate is making more of, as fashions tilt away from sweet wines, as well as long aging requirements.