Pike & Bannier
Philippe Causse
Hecht & Bannier was founded by Gregory Hecht & Francois Bannier in 2002. The cornerstone of this company is the extensive knowledge of vineyards and wine cellars.
Each year they visit hundreds of private wineries to select the finest wines and retain the freedom to select only the best from these producers each year. Once this is done, they meet for a tasting to design the perfect blend.
Cultivation areas are Minervois, Saint Chinian, Cotes du Roussillon Villages, Faugeres, Maury and Languedoc. In their work, Hecht & Bannier attach great importance to preserving the typical Mediterranean strength, balance and freshness of the wines.
THE IDEA
"We are convinced that Languedoc-Roussillon, the most talented vineyard in France, is not yet getting the international recognition it deserves." say Hecht & Bannier. "Our wines allow wine lovers to discover the exceptional quality and richness of our region. Often our wines come from cooler mountain foothills, where 100-year-old vineyards are not uncommon. In order to preserve the typical Mediterranean strength in our wines, we also maintain their balance and Freshness. That's our mantra for all the growing areas we produce from."
SELECTION
"We select the interesting wines for our blends of tastings from each growing area during the harvest and throughout the year. We select our wines from wine cooperatives, young winemakers and from well-known wineries. We only buy wines that are fully fermented and bring them to our estate. We are not bound by any contract to the wineries. Freedom is very important for the wineries and for us because every year we take the liberty to select only the best wines from these producers." so Pike & Bannier.
BLOSSOM
The blend is designed from selected samples (15 to 30 from each growing area). Each blend is based on 5 to 10 different wines. Hecht & Bannier: "With every blend we want to show how well the individual wines complement each other. We want to remain true to our concept from one vintage to the next and highlight the particularly successful grapes from each region every year."
MATURATION
Maturation, which they consider to be the core of their work, is particularly important to Hecht & Bannier. That is why they select the wines as early as possible to then take them to their cellars. For the aging of the wines, they prefer large wooden barrels, especially Demi Muids for a gentler micro-oxygenation. The Demi Muids are special barrels, especially for the wines from the south of France. They hold 600 litres, which is 3 times the capacity of a "bordelaise" or "bourguignonne" cask. Relatively less wine is in contact with the wood and the thickness of the stave, 45mm vs. 27mm, allows the development of a ideal structure of the wines. However, 30% of the wines also mature in tanks in order to bring the fruitiness and freshness into the blend.