Hecht & Bannier was founded by Gregory Hecht & Francois Bannier in 2002. The foundation of this company is extensive knowledge of vineyards and wine cellars.
Every year they visit hundreds of private wineries to select the best wines and reserve the freedom to select only the best from these producers each year. Once this is done, they meet for a tasting to create the perfect blend.
The growing regions are Minervois, Saint Chinian, Cotes du Roussillon Villages, Faugeres, Maury and Languedoc. In their work, Hecht & Bannier place great importance on 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, has not yet received 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. To preserve the typical Mediterranean strength in our wines, we also preserve their balance and freshness. This is our mantra for all the growing regions from which we produce."
SELECTION
"We select the interesting wines for our blends from tastings in every growing region during the harvest and throughout the year. We select our wines from wine cooperatives, young winemakers and renowned wineries. We only buy completely fermented wines 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 we take the freedom every year to select only the best wines from these producers." say Hecht & Bannier.
BLEND
The blend is created from selected samples (15 to 30 from each growing region). Each blend is based on 5 to 10 different wines. Hecht & Bannier: "With each 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 another and highlight the particularly successful grapes from each region every year."
AGING
Aging is particularly important for Hecht & Bannier, who consider it the core of their work. Therefore, they select the wines as early as possible to subsequently bring them into their cellars. For the aging of the wines, they prefer large wooden barrels, especially Demi Muids for a gentler micro-oxygenation. Demi Muids are special barrels, specifically for wines from Southern France. They hold 600 liters, which is 3 times as much as a “Bordeaux” or “Burgundy” barrel. Proportionally, less wine is in contact with the wood and the thickness of the barrel stave, 45 mm vs. 27 mm, allows the development of an ideal structure in the wines. However, 30% of the wines are also aged in tanks to bring fruitiness and freshness to the blend.
