Olivier Pithon Mon P’tit Pithon Rouge

About Olivier Pithon Mon P’tit Pithon Rouge

Olivier Pithon Mon P’tit Pithon Rouge is a crunchy, chillable, thirst-quenching red. Fresh cherry and blueberry, tart cranberry, and a lemon zest acidity on the finish. 100% whole berry co-fermentation in large stainless-steel tanks. Only the naturally occurring indigenous yeasts were used and a low dose of sulfur was added after the completion of malolactic fermentation. Aged 7 months in large stainless-steel tanks. Prior to bottling, there is a light clarifying filtration and a low dose of sulfur added.

About Olivier Pithon

Born into a family of vignerons from Anjou in the Loire Valley, Olivier’s maternal Grandfather was a winemaker and many of his earliest memories take place in the hillside vineyards of Layon and in the cellar of his older brother, Jo Pithon. At 18 Olivier left his native Anjou to continue his training and to study oenology in Bordeaux. Internships in Beaujolais and Jurançon also provided him the opportunity to explore other regions and to work with new grapes and diverse terroirs.

At the completion of his studies, Olivier remained in Bordeaux, working for several years in Saint Émilion. It was during this time that Olivier met Stéphane Derenoncourt, the Bordeaux winemaker and consultant, famous for his exceptional understanding of terroir. Stéphane’s teachings were hugely influential on the young vigneron and under his tutelage, Olivier learned the importance of working in harmony with nature and reflecting the uniqueness of the land and the grapes in his wines. These were not things Olivier was taught in school, and it was as if a whole new world of wine had been opened to him. A new philosophy was born, one rooted in pleasure and balance. It was not just about the pleasure of drinking wine, but the pleasure of hard work in the vines and seeing that translated into the glass. It was more than the balance one experiences in a great bottle of wine, but the balance of nature felt in vineyards that have been farmed properly and without the use of herbicides or pesticides.

Near the end of 2000, after five years working with the Bordelais, Olivier began searching for a place to start his own Domaine and apply this philosophy. Thanks to a chance phone call with his brother’s friend Gérard Gauby, Olivier traveled to the village of Calce located at the eastern end of the Agly Valley to meet with him. Olivier knew immediately that the combination of altitude, near constant wind from the Tramontane, and complex soils would allow him to produce authentic wines of subtlety and finesse. Here in a quiet village nestled between the Pyrenees, Corbières, and the Mediterranean Sea, were the raw materials he had been searching for. He essentially never left. A little over a month after first visiting, Olivier was able to purchase 8.5 hectares of old vines on the slopes of Calce.

Today the Domaine has grown to 25 hectares of meticulously farmed vines on the complex schist, marl and calcareous-clay soils of Calce. From the beginning, Olivier worked organically in the vines. The Domaine was certified Organic in 2002 and fully Biodynamic by 2010. In the cellar, the vinification is as non-interventionist as possible, as Olivier believes firmly that great wine is made in the vineyard.