The name tells you everything you need to know about the spirit of this project. Tutti Frutti Ananas was born in 2017 when Manuel de Vecchi Staraz of Vinyer de la Ruca, Ze Tafe of La Cave des Nomades, and Joachim Roque of Domaine Carterole decided to make wines together near the Mediterranean coast in Banyuls-sur-Mer. The goal was simple: juicy, approachable, genuinely drinkable natural wine at prices that do not require deliberation.
A Name Built from Three Languages
Manu is Italian, Ze is Portuguese, and Joachim is French who considers himself Catalan. Every wine in the Tutti Frutti Ananas portfolio is named after a fruit in the native language of one of the three collaborators. Tutti Frutti Ananas means pineapple in Italian, which is also a fruit the wines resemble not at all, and that is precisely the point. The name is a cheerful provocation, an announcement that these wines are not meant to be approached with gravity.
The Winemaking: Pure and Lively
The fruit comes primarily from purchased organic grapes in and around Banyuls, a region better known for its oxidative Grenache-based fortified wines. Tutti Frutti Ananas works against that tradition entirely. Wines ferment spontaneously in large concrete vats with no sulfur additions in most cuvees. There is no fining, no filtration, no use of barrique. The wines are bottled young, full of carbon, energy, and the kind of fruit that disappears if you think about it too long. Drink them without ceremony.
Low Prices, High Conviction
Manuel's original instinct for this project was affordability and accessibility. The wines are not compromises. They are made with real intention and genuine farming behind them. But they exist to be bought, opened, shared, and enjoyed without the ceremonial weight that surrounds so much of the natural wine world. In that sense, Tutti Frutti Ananas is one of the most honest propositions in the category.