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.

Finding really good honey isn't that easy (Read more about it here )... But since we – like you? - are real honey fans and think that it should have a permanent place in every well-assorted assortment, we have enthusiastically got behind it to open up a new "honey source" for you. After extensive research and numerous taste tests, we have finally found a new producer that we are completely enthusiastic about, namely Julien Bourrette and his beehives ("Mes ruches" means "My beehives" in German). The honey from "Mes ruches" comes from the Languedoc-Roussillon in southern France, which stretches from the Pyrenees to the Provence-Côte d'Azur along the Mediterranean coast. The region has a few larger cities (Montpelier, Nîmes, Perpignan), but is otherwise very rural. Well-known sights and destinations include the Canal du Midi, the Pont du Gard and the numerous caves and stalactite caves. In this beautiful landscape, Bourrette and his partner Johanne Baux have a wild population of 100 beehives with a total of 350 colonies. Julien has been involved with beekeeping as a passionate hobby since 2006 - since 2010 he has dedicated himself to this task professionally and full-time. Julien and Johanne work with sustainable methods that focus on respect for nature and the bees. So they drive their beehives to areas where there is no intensive agriculture and only the best flowers grow. This method is called transhumance. This way they can guarantee that no pollutants, pesticides and other artificial additives end up in their honey. Since the work is time-consuming, sometimes difficult and also expensive, the two have set up a kind of crowdfunding in which sponsorships for the beehives are awarded. In addition to the nice certainty of contributing to the continued existence of healthy bee colonies and supporting sustainable honey production through such a sponsorship, the bee sponsors also benefit from cheaper honey prices. Then you can think about it... Depending on the season and the condition of the flowers and trees in question, "Mes ruches" produces the following types of honey: lavender, gray heather (Bruyère cendrée), chestnut, Causses du Larzac, garrigue (Miel de Garrigue), mountain honey (Miel de Montagne). We were lucky enough to be able to taste them all and are absolutely delighted with every single variety. The consistency of the honey is of a sensational crystalline creaminess and the respective aromas stand out individually and very clearly. This is really different than honey from the supermarket! To really taste the honey, it is best to take a small amount and simply put it on your tongue. The honey begins to melt on your tongue through the saliva and dissolves into its individual crystals. The aromas are released, which you can now taste through the taste buds on your tongue, but also through your nose. A real experience! For the time being we have included the following 3 varieties in our range: lavender , gray heather (bruyère cendrée) , mountain honey from the Ardèche . Due to the seasonal characteristics, the others will only be available later in the year. We are already looking forward to the 3 first new additions to the honey shelf and soon to the following ones too!