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Château Pech-Latt

A large organic Corbières estate near Lagrasse, Château Pech-Latt makes hand-harvested reds from Mediterranean grapes and concrete-tank vinification.

The producer

Near Lagrasse in Corbières, Château Pech-Latt brings 100 hectares of vines together in a single 120-hectare holding without close neighbours. Burgundy-based Louis Max owns the estate and oenologist Philippe Mathias manages vineyard and cellar; organic farming since 1991 sets the frame for a four-grape red made from Grenache, Syrah, Carignan and Marselan.

Château Pech-Latt 2024 is hand harvested, then fermented and macerated on its skins for about three weeks in concrete tanks. That skin contact gives the dry red its colour and tannin, while the blend supplies fruit, acidity, darker spice and savoury grip. L’Ile Ardente 2019 and Memoire d’Alaric 2020 extend the documented range with more individually defined bottlings.

Known for

Organic, estate-grown Corbières reds from a single large vineyard holding near Lagrasse.

Notable facts

The story

Organic since 1991

In 1991, Château Pech-Latt began farming organically near Lagrasse in Corbières. The estate is now described as a 120-hectare holding, with 100 hectares planted to vines in one single plot without close neighbours. Organic farming has remained part of the work under Burgundy-based owner Louis Max, with Philippe Mathias managing both vineyard and winery as oenologist. For the documented 2024 Château Pech-Latt, grapes from that estate were hand harvested; Grenache, Syrah, Carignan and Marselan then fermented and macerated with their skins for approximately three weeks in concrete tanks.

From the atlas

Château Pech-Latt

At A Glance

The Producer

Château Pech-Latt works near Lagrasse in Corbières, where its red wine is built from Mediterranean varieties rather than a single grape. Burgundy-based Louis Max owns the estate, while oenologist Philippe Mathias manages both vineyard and cellar. The relationship is concrete in the 2024 Château Pech-Latt: Grenache, Syrah, Carignan and Marselan arrive from the same estate before fermentation and skin maceration in concrete tanks.

Place

Corbières is the name on the regional frame around Pech-Latt, while Lagrasse places the estate within it. The useful fact is physical as much as geographical: BKWine describes 120 hectares as one single plot, without close neighbours. For a bottle such as Château Pech-Latt 2024, that means the four-grape blend can be assembled from a contiguous estate holding instead of from scattered, separately managed vineyards.

Soil And Site

No verified soil, slope or elevation detail is available for Pech-Latt, so the site is best understood through its scale and form. Of the 120-hectare property, 100 hectares are planted to vines in the single plot described near Lagrasse. That concentrated vineyard setting provides the practical frame for organic work and hand harvesting; it does not support claims about chalk, stones, drainage or mineral flavour.

Story

Organic farming has been part of Château Pech-Latt since 1991. The estate is now owned by Louis Max and managed on the ground by Philippe Mathias, with the vineyard and winery under the same oenological direction. The documented 2024 red shows how that structure reaches the bottle: hand-picked Grenache, Syrah, Carignan and Marselan spent about three weeks fermenting and macerating with their skins in concrete.

About 90% of production is exported, so Pech-Latt’s wines travel far beyond Corbières. The relevant connection is not a claim about uniform style across every bottle, but a clear estate signature in the best-documented release: a four-variety red, hand-harvested, made with extended skin contact in concrete rather than described through an oak-led recipe.

Vineyards And Cellar

A 100-hectare planted vineyard requires choices to be made at estate scale, and Pech-Latt’s long organic record is one of the few verified farming facts. The 2024 harvest was picked by hand, a direct intervention before the grapes reached the cellar. Once there, fermentation and skin maceration lasted approximately three weeks in concrete tanks, keeping the grape skins in contact with the fermenting wine long enough to extract colour, tannin and savoury grip.

Concrete is the documented vessel for that stage, not a basis for claiming an entire ageing programme. Its significance here is straightforward: the 2024 wine’s fruit, acidity and tannin were shaped through skins and fermentation in tank, while no verified information supports promises about barrel flavour, new oak or bottle age.

Wines

The named range includes Château Pech-Latt 2024, L’Ile Ardente 2019 and Memoire d’Alaric 2020. Château Pech-Latt 2024 is the estate-level reference in the supplied record: Grenache, Syrah, Carignan and Marselan, hand harvested and fermented with roughly three weeks of skin maceration in concrete. Four red grapes give the wine several structural tools at once: fruit from Grenache, darker fruit and spice commonly associated with Syrah, Carignan’s firmer acidic line, and Marselan’s colour and tannin.

L’Ile Ardente 2019 and Memoire d’Alaric 2020 occupy a more specific part of the range. The documented material confirms a defined composition and sensory profile for L’Ile Ardente, while Memoire d’Alaric is tied to a vineyard selection with recorded fruit character and tannin. Their exact tasting language should remain attached to those individual vintages rather than transferred wholesale to the 2024 Château Pech-Latt.

In The Glass

Château Pech-Latt 2024 is best approached as a dry Corbières red with fruit, acidity, tannin and body shaped by its four-grape composition and three weeks on skins. Grenache can bring red-fruit breadth, Syrah darker fruit and spice, while Carignan and Marselan can add grip and colour. Hand harvesting and concrete fermentation establish how the grapes were handled, but the supplied record does not support a more exact aroma list or a claim about oak on this vintage.

The practical tasting sequence is therefore fruit first, then the palate’s tannin and acidity, followed by the finish. Look for the difference between ripe fruit weight from the blend and the savoury, skin-derived structure from maceration. The wine’s dry frame makes food useful: grilled meat, lentils or roast vegetables can meet the tannin without requiring sweetness or heavy sauce.

A Bottle To Understand It

Choose Château Pech-Latt 2024. It is the clearest documented bottle because its blend, harvest and fermentation are all known: Grenache, Syrah, Carignan and Marselan, picked by hand and macerated for about three weeks in concrete tanks. Expect a dry red whose fruit, acidity and tannin can be read through those grapes and that skin contact. It comes first because it connects the estate’s large organic vineyard near Lagrasse to one fully described cellar process.

Anecdote

In 1991, Château Pech-Latt began farming organically. The estate was already a substantial Corbières holding near Lagrasse, and BKWine now describes its vineyard as a single 120-hectare plot with 100 hectares planted to vines and no close neighbours. The organic practice has continued through the estate’s present ownership by Burgundy-based Louis Max and under Philippe Mathias’s management of vineyard and winery. In the documented 2024 harvest, grapes from that estate were picked by hand; Grenache, Syrah, Carignan and Marselan then spent approximately three weeks fermenting and macerating with their skins in concrete tanks.

Final Word

Pech-Latt is a large, self-contained Corbières estate whose most clearly documented bottle joins organic farming, hand harvesting and concrete vinification. Château Pech-Latt 2024 offers a direct way into that combination: a dry, structured red built from four Mediterranean grapes, with fruit and tannin carrying the wine through the finish.

Sources

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