Laetitia Piétri makes great Collioure and Banyuls wines in her incredibly small and cramped cellar in the middle of the delightful and bustling town of Collioure. Harvest time must be a bit of a nightmare for this town-centre winery, with the narrow, hilly streets still thronged with tourists – and the vineyards high up in the hills above the town. This is the southern-most wine region in Roussillon (with the Spanish border just a few kilometres away) and the vineyards are set in stunning scenery, at the point where the Pyrenées tumble into the Mediterranean. Everywhere you look, vines are planted into the hillsides, up to an altitude of several hundred metres. The terroir is a mix of the soil and the sea, with the maritime influence very definitely making its mark on the wines.
Laetitia Pietri is the fifth generation of her family to tend their 30 hectares of Collioure and Banyuls, alongside her still active mother Maguy. Their vineyards are on steep terraces, dotted around the hills of Collioure, Banyuls and Port Vendres where slate soils support very old Grenache and Carignan, with more recent plantings of Syrah and Mourvèdre.
A white Banyuls is a rarity. The vast majority is red (or brown depending on the style).
This white Banyuls is made in the traditional (oxidative) way. This extraordinary wine is matured unsheltered (in open air) during 3 years in huge glass bottles (90%) and the remaining 10% is matured in barriques.
The low yielding Grenache Blanc (80%) and Grenache Gris (20%) deliver an extremely complex nose – raisins, dry apricots, quince and caramel – the palate is richly textured, with dried fruits, cream and a mineral touch on the finish.
