Domaine de la Casa Blanca Collioure
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Banyuls and Collioure are two Appellation Controlee wines which share the same geographical region. The vines grow on terraced, schistous mountainside vineyards located smack up against the Mediterranean Sea near the Spanish border. The steep slopes and very poor soil combined with constantly buffeting winds off the sea makes grape production difficult but yields great wines. The vines grow low to the ground and each must be planted, tended and harvested by hand. Yields are astonishingly low, at most 20 HL/HA. Created in 1970, Casa Blanca is one of the oldest family domain in the AOC. It consists of 10 hectares of carefully tended vines (including 4 hectares cultivated organically) ranging in age from 70 to 100 years. Herve Levano, the current winemaker and owner, arrived in Banyuls in 1995 and bought shares in Casa Blanca in 2005. His goal, with vineyard manager Laurent Escapa - who has been with Casa Blanca since 1989 - is to make intense, flavorful wines that combine the best of traditional methods (i.e. wood ageing) with the advantages of modern techniques (i.e. temperature control). Their winery is in the middle of the village of Banyuls. In 2010, Valerie Reig joined the team and is working the soil with her mule Ursule. The total production is 1250 to 1700 cases per year, about half for Banyuls and half for Collioure, plus a few cases of Banyuls Blanc and Hors d'Age. Casa Blanca superb wines have been praised in GaultMillau, Hachette, Dussert-Gerber and the Revue du Vin de France and have been awarded the prestigious Saint-Bacchus award for best of Roussillon.