Olivier Pithon - 'Mon P'tit Pithon Rouge' - Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre - Calce, Côtes Catalanes, FR - 2021

A scrumptious and lively yet deep red from the hills of Côtes Catalanes: the magical transom between France and Spain.
Absolutely vibrant.

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I was introduced into the world of wine during my earliest years by my maternal grand-father in Anjou. I fell into it, as they say, when I was little. My older brother who is a wine-grower, settled into the Coteaux du Layon region (Jo Pithon) when I was only 4 years old. I have dozens of memories in his wine cellar… and only good ones!
It is therefore only natural that I chose to work with wine or perhaps rather that it chose me. From as young as 14 years old, I worked in vineyards as an apprentice in my home town, Anjou. Aware very early on about the importance of quality, I left my motherland at 18 years of age, to continue my training in the Bordeaux region.
A series of internships allowed me to discover other regions in France like the Jurançon and the Beaujolais. Once my studies finally came to an end, I was able to focus entirely on my passion for the land and for wine…
Experience after experience, five years went by working in the Bordeaux region (Saint-Émilion) expanding little by little my knowledge of the field.
Life saw to it that I would meet many people, one of whom was Stéphane Dereoncourt, a self-taught winemaker from the Bordeaux region.
With him I discovered sensitivity, how wines can become pleasurable, balance and lightness.
The love for a job well done, the close attention given to our interventions on the land, the importance of tasting to see the development of wines, and the respect for the raw materials.
It may seem silly, but these are things we aren’t taught at school… We never learn that the most essential thing is to make wines we love. Never do we talk in class about poetry, love and pleasure. Stéphane helped me realise all of that… Sometimes, an encounter can be life-changing.
Naturally (just like how it seemed natural to have a cow, a horse/mare and a dog for a balanced lifestyle) came a deep desire to spread my own wings and vinify my own vines.
At the end of 2000, I started the search for a place to live, a piece of land where I could live out my passion for earth and wine.
I was immediately captivated by Calce, in the Pyrenees-Orientales, as if there couldn’t be any other place for this adventure. Ever since one phone call and my meeting with Gérard Gauby (a friend of my brother), I have never turned back.
In as little as one month, I went from being unemployed to being a wine-grower, with paperwork for the bank replacing paperwork I had for the government benefit.
The unattainable dream of having one’s own vines, barrels, and wine had been achieved: a real fairy tale! The first day in my vineyard will stay forever engraved in my memory: the 3rd of January 2001. Calce.
Old Carignan planted by a certain somebody called Saturne in 1940. An unobstructed view of the Mediterranean, the Corbieres, the Pyrenees. Secateur in my hand. Head down. The adventure of my life was beginning.
Never in my young life would I have ever thought that this could be possible: having my own space, just for me, 8.5 hectares of old vines on slopes of schist hillsides. Not even in my wildest dreams was it so beautiful. A new life was beginning, my life, not the culmination but the beginning of a crazy adventure.
«Freedom I cherish your name !»
From then onwards, I have had a single desire: to give everything to my vines so that they can give back to me in grapes and wine.
Taking pride in giving it your heart and soul, your sweat, your love, your wishes, your dreams. Going organic was obvious to me, a marker of respect, a requirement for quality, a lifestyle choice.
Economically irrational for a young business such as mine, but being generous, natural and having integrity is all what I stand for.