The Rectorie 2007 Banyuls Cuvee Leon Parce is harvested late, and probably for that reason, in my experience consistently surpasses the other sweet Parce wines in richness and complexity. What’s more – tasting the assembled wine from tank – the (modest) element of wood here is well-integrated. Aromas of black raspberry jam are accented with cocoa powder and cinnamon. In the mouth, these are allied to a lovely sense of salted caramel. This finishes long and spicy, easily enticing the next sip. One could certainly let it evolve in bottle for some years, though personally I prefer this style young and as true dessert or cheese wine.
Marc, Pierre, and Thierry Parce’s meticulous, biodynamic devotion to (and often, separate vinification of) some thirty terraced parcels along the coast between Collioure and Banyuls and extending well into the interior mountains is strikingly documented by Pierre (a professional photographer) and eloquently articulated in the course of tasting, which makes it a source of frustration as well as disappointment that many of their dry red wines were numbingly and dryly tannic and at times downright funky; their sweets often simply confectionary, with elements of alcohol and wood interfering with rather than framing the fruit. (For reviews of wines from the Parce’s estate in Maury, see under “La Preceptorie de Centernach.”) The Parces are champions of Grenache Gris, but I found the sole example I tasted (in an admittedly incomplete survey of 2006s and 2007s at their two estates) spare, saline, and without much depth.
Importer: Jack Siler Selections (various importers), Paris; fax 011 33 1 45 45 23 59