Picpoul grape variety

Picapol White 2022

Patrick Bouju

Gourmet, lively, and friendly, Picapol plays with finesse and good humor on a classic Hérault wine that definitely deserves to be better known. As part of his wine merchant business, Patrick Bouju focuses here on Picpoul de Pinet, an ancient Languedoc grape variety that thrives on the seaside and saline flavors. The Picpoul grapes were harvested by the sea, in Pinet itself, and pressed directly before being vinified in stainless steel vats using indigenous yeasts. This makes a lovely, chilled white wine, a good excuse to rush out and indulge in raw seafood (oysters, clams, clams, mussels), raw or grilled fish, pasta with bottarga, or even bouillabaisse and bourride.

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Near Billom, the Limagne clermontoise rises towards the east to form a hilly area with a mild climate, dominated by volcanic hills. This is the Auvergne Tuscany, so named because of its resemblance to the Italian province. This land of mixed subsistence farming was once covered in vines and was the preferred domain of Gamay d'Auvergne, a robust old strain, the origin of dense, deep and fruity wines. This is where Patrick Bouju cultivates and vinifies, on these high-quality volcanic soils and mainly on old vines. The soils vary between basalt, limestone, clay-limestone, and pozzolan. Patrick collects and cares for the best terroirs of Puy-de-Dôme, often abandoned, and gives them new life. He also preserves the native grape varieties, of which he cultivates a good fifty, and simultaneously works as a wine merchant using purchased organic grapes. The current renaissance of the Auvergne vineyard (which was once the third largest in France) owes much to Patrick. The fact that he enjoys lending a helping hand to his winegrowing friends in France and elsewhere only confirms his image as a role model, a leader. His partnerships are famous: with Action Bronson for the series A la Natural, with Jason Ligas in Greece for Sous le Végétal… Patrick practices long macerations, and the wines rest for up to six months after bottling. Very sensitive to sulfites in wines, Patrick has found that his wines do very well without them. He also found that if the grapes are healthy and concentrated, balance occurs naturally, regardless of the successive phases a vintage goes through. His noble, chiseled, distinguished, never bland wines are immediately recognizable in the glass. They are straight, clean, precise, often marked by floral notes and a spicy minerality. They also constitute a formidable anthology of the terroirs and ancient vines of Lower Auvergne and its volcanic soils.