Who makes it
For more than 35 years, women have shaped the direction of Domaine Pietri-Géraud in Collioure, France. The estate keeps two wine paths open: dry Collioure wines, including the white L'Écume, and Banyuls, a naturally sweet wine whose fermentation is stopped with added alcohol. That split puts place, grape and cellar method on the same page.
Banyuls Blanc Maguy shows white Grenache in a fruity, indulgent style. L'Écume takes Collioure white in a dry direction, with weight, meatiness, fine oak and a long finish. The domaine also makes Banyuls whose colour and flavour change through sunlight, oxidative ageing and long solera assembly.
Where it grows
The estate is based at 22 rue Pasteur in Collioure, with a main production site and vineyard terraces. Collioure appears in the dry white range, while Banyuls names the sweet Vin Doux Naturel. The place names therefore separate two different experiences in the cellar and in the glass.
Banyuls is made by adding alcohol during fermentation. Yeast activity stops, fermentation ends, and natural sweetness remains. Collioure Blanc L'Écume follows the opposite route in style, arriving as a dry white with a weighty texture and a long finish.
How it is made
The cellar
Banyuls begins with mutage, the addition of alcohol during fermentation. Yeast activity stops before all the grape sugar is converted, leaving sweetness in the wine. The domaine describes its Banyuls as powerful and deeply coloured, with enough freshness for both dessert and aperitif service.
Cuvée du Soleil takes Banyuls into oxidative ageing. Made from 80 percent Grenache Blanc with Grenache Gris, it spends four years in glass demijohns exposed to sunlight. The cellar method explains its amber colour and its movement toward honey, very ripe fruit, dried fruit, walnuts, candied orange and aged brandy.
What they make
Banyuls Blanc Maguy is the direct white Grenache expression: 100 percent Grenache Blanc, naturally sweet, indulgent and fruity. Its place in the range is immediate and generous.
Collioure Blanc L'Écume is dry, fatty and meaty, with fine oak and a very long finish. It shows the estate's white wine work through texture and cellar influence instead of sweetness.
Wines to try
First bottle
Start with Banyuls Blanc Maguy. It is 100 percent Grenache Blanc, a naturally sweet Banyuls with an indulgent, fruity profile. The grape is stated plainly, the sweetness comes from fermentation stopped by added alcohol, and the taste stays close to ripe fruit rather than the amber, nutty and oxidative register of Cuvée du Soleil. Maguy gives the cleanest first view of how Domaine Pietri-Géraud treats Banyuls before sunlight, long ageing or solera methodology add another layer.