Wines by Region / Loire Valley / Pouilly Fumé/ Domaine du Bouchot
Domaine du Bouchot - Pouilly Fumé
Saint-Andelain, Nièvre
Our original Pouilly Fumé producer, Patrick Coulbois, was one of the first Loire producers we worked with beginning back in 2001 or so. After five or so years, we began putting together a cuvée with Patrick, combining wines from his pure silex with his pure limestone parcels to create what we felt was the perfectly balanced blend of his vineyards. He was happy, we were happy, our customers were happy. Unfortunately, at the beginning of 2018, Patrick informed us that he was retiring, and renting the majority of his tiny property to a cousin who was not interested in selling his wine in bottle. However, being also the mayor of his town St. Andelain (arguably the top village in Pouilly-Fumé because of its high content of silex), he was kind enough to give me the names of a number of other possible replacement producers in the region. 
This is where the new chapter begins—after some additional research, I encountered the Domaine du Bouchot, a tiny domaine also located in St. Andelain in the southern part of Pouilly Fumé close to the Loire River, and run by self-proclaimed organic activists. On one of our many annual trips to France, I took a detour in 2018 after everyone else had returned to California, and made it to Saint-Andelain just after the sun went down. The couple who run the domaine were kind enough to do a candlelit tasting of their wines and I was very impressed and resolved to bring them in.
In 1985, Rachel and Pascal Kerbiquet planted two plots on an old farm that formerly specialized in wheat and other grains. Facing southwest and planted on Kimmeridgian limestone, the Cote des Pres and Fouinelles vineyards are now more than 30 years old. In 1995, the couple planted two more parcels, Vaurigny and Papillons, this time on Portlandian soils.
Always thinking about the environment, they were the first domaine in the appellation to be certified organic and are still one of the only domaines in the appellation working organically. Since 2008, they have also worked biodynamically in their vineyards and winery. Soils are plowed; leaf plucking normally takes place in the summer to allow more maturity for their Sauvignon Blanc grapes. The harvest is by hand, the yeasts are indigenous and the wine is made with as little pumping as possible. Aged on its fine lees in temperature-controlled stainless-steel tanks, the wine is bottled in the spring after a very light filtration.
The domaine makes a range of Pouilly Fumés and even a Chasselas Pouilly-sur-Loire. |
Domaine Bouchot Pouilly Fumé Le Domaine
This cuvée (called Regain in France) is a selection of Sauvignon Blanc vines planted on ancient Portlandian soils that lend a unique flintiness and minerality. The topsoils are limestone with small rocks. Only indigenous yeasts are used, and it ages sur lie for 6 months in stainless steel tanks. This has forward floral notes along with grapefruit and a subtle minerality binds everything together. 
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