Men with passion
Excellence has a name: L'Étoile !
Since one century, the knowledge, the dedication and skills allows our cellar to produce our superb and acclaimed wines.
From our winegrowers to the cellar master, our men are keeping alive the know-how of our ancestors, repeating the same gestures, the same work, freezing through times a secular tradition of excellence.
The cycle and main steps of wine cultivation:
-Wine pruning during winter aerates wine and allows a good fructification.
-Plant new vines and grafting vines.
-Removing excess foliage to enable a better vine growing. This operation takes place during springtime.
-The maintenance of the soils and the small walls will favor a better quality of the vines and grapes.
-The stripping of leaves will allow a better maturing of the grapes.
- Then comes the maturation, a crucial step where sugar percentage will increase while acidity percentage will decrease.
-Vintage is the operation of the harvest of the grapes.
Preservation and wine-making process is the last step within the conception of wines and the refining in our cellar.
All these steps are made by hand with fastidiousness by our wine-growers in a remarkable environment.
A philosophy and requirements of the cellar master and his team keep with greatest attention with an ultimate goal: reaching Excellence!
"We work to deliver pleasure to our customers, to give an emotionnaly charged moment, what a wonderful job! We are proud of it"
Jean Pierre Centène (CEO of l'Etoile, and wine-grower of our cellar since ever)
For a sustainable agriculture
Our cellar is located at the heart of the village of Banyuls, the cradle of the protected designation of origin of our sweet natural wines.
Our vines are within 5 km from our cellar.
We are set up a so called “groupement foncier viticole” in order to protect the unique landscape heritage, buying and restoring abandoned vines.
All our wines such - such the renowned old vintages - are matured, preserved, and designed in our cellar. Our wide range of wines of Collioure, Banyuls and the popular Banyuls grand cru the only wine sweet.