89/100 In the nose Hecht & Bannier’s 2004 Minervois (a Syrah-Grenache-Carignan blend) mingles dried and distilled fruits (cassis, cherry, cranberry) with garrigues and ocean spray minerality. Brimming with sappy fruit, resinous herbs, and a meaty pan dripping-like essence, this wine displays a lovely counterpoint of creamy texture with bright, subtly tart fruit and a satisfyingly-long […]
92/100 The Hecht & Bannier 2003 Saint Chinian (from Syrah, Grenache and Mourvèdre) utterly belies its vintage, while demonstrating the heights to which its appellation can aspire. Wood smoke, wet stones, sweat, and toasted walnut all inflect the blueberry and boysenberry aromas, leading to a luscious, smoothly-textured palate full of blue fruit and meat stock […]
15/20 Intense, rich and very ripe, sweet and alcoholic with pretty tought tannins from presumably rain-starved fruit. Certainly not a comfortable drink at the moment. The dry tannins dominate the palate and all in all the wine sucks the juices out of the palate. It may get there eventually but there are many more winning […]
17/20 Dark crimson. Very hot, rich nose with lots of succulent fruit – a certain ethereal quality on the palate and good evidence of Saint Chinian schist. Very dark crimson. 13,5% – Drink 2007-2010.
16/20 Very rich and reassuring – broad and almost ready, although there is no shortage of well handled tannin. 13,5% – Drink 2007-2010.
17/20 Fragrant, rather sumptuous on the nose. Well integrated ripe cherry fruit and oak. Fine grained tannins. Quite an ambitious wine. Probably best kept a bit. 13,5%. Drink 2008-2012.
15,5+/20 Spicy, big, pretty heavily oaked. Did this spend just a bit too long in wood ? Hot finish. The 2005 seems a much happier, better balanced wine even if – or because – less concentrated. Furry, insistent tannins. It may just need time… 14,5%. Drink 2009-2012.
Après avoir bourlingué dans le commerçe international du vin, Gregory Hecht et François Bannier, deux jeunes oenophiles passionnés, sélectionnent et élevent désormais les crus qu’ils aiment. Leur jeune entreprise de négociant-éleveur spécialisé en Languedoc et en Roussillon présente toute la palette d’appellations, dans un format aromatique précis et une expression discrète de l’élevage (nous ne […]