The Sommelier, the Lawyer & 36 Months on the Skins
A German sommelier who trained a generation of wine professionals, a French lawyer, and three small children who left everything behind in 2014 to farm 9 hectares of ancient Grenache on Precambrian schist terraces where the Pyrénées plunge into the Mediterranean. At Oiseau Rebelle, every task is done by hand and foot — and the wines macerate for up to three years before gravity sees them into UV-protected black bottles.
Origin — From Berlin Classrooms to Banyuls Terraces
Guido Hube spent 18 years as a senior lecturer at the German Wine and Sommelier School in Berlin, chairing the national examination commissions at the end of his term. He ran wine shops in the city, tasted roughly 3,000 wines a year, and trained a generation of sommeliers. But after 15 years as an educator, he felt his authenticity slipping — he wanted to make wine, not just talk about it.
In 2014, Guido and his wife Mélanie — a lawyer — took the plunge. With their three young children, they left Germany entirely, found vineyards in Banyuls-sur-Mer on the Côte Vermeille, and fell in love. They bought 9 hectares of gnarled old vines on precipitous, ancient Precambrian schist terraces, where the Pyrénées abruptly plunge into the Mediterranean and the Tramontane wind can reach 190 km/h.
The vines had been farmed conventionally. The Hubes began organic conversion immediately, certified by 2018 — but they went far beyond the guidelines. Guido, coming from a scientific background, calculated that ploughing would release nitrogen the vines couldn't absorb, washing into the Mediterranean. So they stopped ploughing entirely. They cut out copper, added nothing to the soil but homeopathic sheep dung from their own flock, and used only elementary sulfur against oidium — twice a year, at most.
Every single task in the vineyard is done by hand and foot: rebuilding dry-stone walls, bagging up tonnes of eroded soil and carrying it back up the hillsides, pruning to microscopic yields of around 5 hectolitres per hectare, and pulling weeds with a traditional xadic hoe. A team of 40 harvests at dawn, hand-destemmed, foot-trodden, and gravity-bottled with no sulfur, no pumping, no filtration, no fining.
The Place — Where the Pyrénées Meet the Sea
Banyuls-sur-Mer sits on the Mediterranean border with Spain, where the Côte Vermeille's terraced hillsides have been carved from Precambrian schist over 2,000 years of viticulture. The Tramontane howls down from the north at 190 km/h. The sun is relentless. The vines are ancient, bush-trained, and co-planted — a living archive of Grenache in all its colours.
Grenache in All Its Colours
Grenache Noir (93%), Grenache Gris (63%), Grenache Blanc (5%), plus Mourvèdre, Vermentino, Muscat d'Alexandrie, and Syrah. Vines average 60 years old, some far older, on steep schist terraces that demand every task be done by hand. The yields are microscopic — around 5 hectolitres per hectare.
No Plough, No Copper, No Compromise
Guido eliminated copper entirely — what little false mildew appears is simply cut out. No soil amendments beyond homeopathic sheep dung. No ploughing of the 80cm deep topsoil, to prevent erosion and nitrogen runoff into the Mediterranean. The approach is permaculture meets biodynamics, with the scientific rigour of a man who taught wine chemistry for two decades.
The Herculean Task of the Terraces
The Hubes have spent years bagging up tonnes of soil eroded down the hillsides and carrying it back up to reintegrate into their parcels. They rebuild fallen dry-stone walls stone by stone, gathered from the dry riverbed. It is farming as physical labour and land stewardship combined.
Ancient Regional Traditions
Before mutage began 150 years ago, the Banyuls region made unique sweet wines from late-harvested Grenache for centuries — wines so prized they helped induce the Kings of Aragon to claim this land in the 13th century. The Hubes are not innovating; they are returning.
Winemaking — 36 Months on Skins, Flor, and Gravity Alone
The Hubes' cellar protocols are as radical as their farming. Grapes are harvested at dawn, cooled in a refrigerated truck, then meticulously sorted and destemmed by hand. They are crushed by bare foot and transferred to stainless steel vats. After initial pigeage, the must is usually not pressed — the wines ferment and macerate on their skins for extended periods, from a minimum of 12 months to as long as 36 months.
No sulfur is added to any wine. Bottling is by gravity, without pumping. The bottles are small, dark, and coated with matt black paint to block UV light. The corks are natural, individually gas-chromatography tested for TCA. Every detail is obsessively controlled — except the wine itself, which is left entirely to its own devices.
Guido's inspiration came partly from qvevri-aged Georgian wines. "Strict selection and long maceration are the key to a balance of phenolics and terroir reference," he explains. "Long maceration ensures the presence of precisely these long-chain compounds which, on the one hand, have a sensorially balanced effect on wines, on the other, favour long bottle ageing." The wines are so packed with umami, tannins, salt and minerals that the alcohol becomes almost invisible.
The Wines — Flor, Vermouth, and Banyuls Without the Spirit
A range of startling originality — whites aged under flor like Jerez, a natural Vermouth from black grapes, and sweet wines made without mutage, left outside in the summer heat to arrest fermentation naturally. All in UV-protected black bottles, all gravity-bottled, all zero sulfur.
VVNT
Estate white"Vivant" — 88% Grenache Gris, 12% Grenache Blanc. 40% foot-trodden, 60% direct-pressed, fermented with indigenous yeasts, 15% aged rappes added, then 30 months in stainless steel without racking. Complex, long, mineral, with herbal spice and dried yellow fruit. Noble elegance and great length.
XRS
Oxidative white under florInspired by Jerez — 90% Grenache Gris, 10% Grenache Blanc, macerated 24 months on skins, then drawn off into old barriques filled only halfway, aged under flor yeast for 28 months. Onion skin colour, nutty, rose and cumin on the nose, satin mouthfeel, almond and umami on the finish. Bottled in 370ml only.
BRMTH
Blanc de noirs / natural Vermouth100% Grenache Noir, pressed hard for three days to extract maximum bitters — a blanc de noirs fermented dry (0.9g/l rs) and aged reductively in stainless steel for 21 months without touching. Deep copper colour, herbal, menthol, black cherry, dark chocolate, tobacco and Indian spice. Restrained power, gentle tannic grip, salinity, excellent lift. UV-fluorescent label.
P'tit Rebelle Clangrengris
Orange wineThe entry-level orange — Grenache Gris with a little Grenache Blanc, skin-contact, made in the same spirit as the grand cuvées but more approachable. Floral, textured, with the same mineral backbone that defines the estate.
MTNR
Estate red"Matière noire" — 100% Grenache Noir, hand-destemmed, foot-trodden, fermented with indigenous yeasts, 10% aged rappes added, 7 months in stainless steel without racking. Lush and complex: overripe dark berries, warm underbrush, cool mineral acidity balancing firm and crumbly tannins. Juicy drinkability with a very long finish that nods to the region's sweet wines.
CRBR
Naturally sweet red / Banyuls à l'ancienne"Cerbère" — 95% Grenache Noir, 5% Grenache Gris, super late-harvested 22nd November (potential alcohol 26.5%), hand-destemmed, foot-trodden, slowly fermenting in stainless steel with no sulfur. The vat was put outside in early summer heat to arrest fermentation naturally — no spirit added, no mutage. Fig, pine needles, cigar leaf, spice, menthol. Tannic framework, voluptuous sweet fig and prune, beautiful freshness, umami and salt on the finish. For drinking now to 2030.
CRBR 'JS'
Super-concentrated sweet red (limited)The "YESSSS!!!" cuvée — 100% Grenache Noir, same protocol as CRBR but in exceptional vintages only. Golden label. Candied and raisined black cherries, forest berries, liquorice spice; complex and densely packed in its crumbly texture, threaded with juicy mineral, supported by profoundly ripe phenols, raised to sublimity by the finest integrated alcohol. An extremely rare gift of the vintage.
Legacy — Reinterpreting the Côte Vermeille, or Simply Returning to It
In just over a decade, Guido and Mélanie Hube have accomplished what very few winemakers achieve in a lifetime. They started from scratch in a foreign country, on some of the most demanding terroir in France, with no local network and three small children. They converted conventionally farmed vines to organic and biodynamic practices, eliminated copper, stopped ploughing, and rebuilt terraces by hand.
But the wines are the real legacy. They have proven that Banyuls does not need mutage — that naturally sweet wine can be made by late harvest, slow fermentation, and summer heat alone. They have shown that flor ageing belongs not just to Jerez but to the Mediterranean south. They have made a natural Vermouth from black grapes that rivals any fortified aromatised wine in Europe.
The Hubes are part of a micro-movement of idealist winemakers from across the world — Japan, Denmark, Holland, Germany — who have come to France not to imitate but to listen. Guido's "unclouded gaze" has produced wines that are already sought from Tokyo to Chicago to London. The Côte Vermeille has been making wine for over 2,000 years. Oiseau Rebelle is simply reminding it how.