88 AL – Youthful and dark purple colour, the nose is young and intense with ripe sweet berries, plum and chocolate. Rather muscular palate, fine spices, herbs and ripe dark fruit, some oak in the background, modern style, rich and long finish. 88 MdM – Dark purple red with violet hue and black center. Elegant […]
89 AL – Dark ruby with a purple hue. Sweet nose of crushed berries, plum, some spicy notes and a hint of new oak. Rather dense fruit with a soft texture and polished tannin, juicy red and dark fruit, good freshness, drinkability and a rather long finish. 87 MdM – Dark purple red with violet […]
88/100 The Languedoc, an enormous swath of vineyards in the sunny South of France extending west from the Rhone River to the Spanish border, is a minefield for wine. The wines range from unique and wonderful to astringent and dilute. With literally thousands of small growers and producers, it takes a lot of work to […]
90/100 Hecht & Bannier is a high quality ngociant specializing in the wines from the Languedoc. If you ever want to explore how the wines from the different appellations in this part of the South of France differ, pick up bottlings from Hecht & Bannier and taste them side by side. The winemaking style is […]
High-toned kirsch, framboise, and cassis distillates seem to shadow the ripe fresh berries from the nose all the way through a sappily-concentrated, subtly silken mid-palate to an effusively juicy, uplifting finish. Along the way, inflections of crushed stone, smoky black tea, resinous herbs, licorice, and juniper better contribute to a rivetingly dynamic interplay whose finish […]
Grenache, syrah, mourvèdre, un trio infernal moulé comme une main d’argile dans un gant de fer. Solide, immuable et impénétrable, il offre une expression forte du terroir, une mâche fruitée sérieuse doublée d’une épaisseur peu commune de tanins dont la maturité et l’autorité ne font aucun doute ici. Une bouteille qui « casse » février […]
Top Ten Smart Buy Topping the smart buys list this week is another fine value from Hecht & Bannier, the 2010 Côtes du Roussillon Villages ($23.95). I’ve highlighted wines from this premium negociant before as the quality/pleasure/price rapport is generally excellent accross the range. Hecht and Bannier are merchants who purchase grapes and wines from […]
*** + Corsé. Gregory Hecht et François Bannier bouleversent les idées reçues en matière de négoce depuis qu’ils ont créé cette petite maison languedocienne. Ce 2010, dégusté en primeur en juillet 2012, confirme, si besoin est, leur talent et leur flair pour dénicher les plus belles cuvées, assemblées ici de grenache et de mourvèdre, sur […]
