Producer: Alice Bouvot Domaine de l’Octavin

Alice Bouvot Where? The Octavin estate is located in Arbois, in the Jura region, often described as "the most organic vineyard in France." It was created in 2005 on two hectares by Alice Bouvot and her then-partner, Charles Dagand. After gradually acquiring plots, it now covers seven hectares. This is a winery for music lovers. Alice seamlessly transitioned from music to wine, first studying cello and piano at the Besançon Conservatory, then viticulture and oenology in Bordeaux and Dijon. There, she learned the difference between formal mastery and improvisation. Conventional, structured, straightforward, flawless wines are technically perfect, but a musician who doesn't know music theory and plays from the inside out creates emotion. For her, this is what living wine is: instinctive, improvised, emotional. After her studies, Alice traveled for three years: Chile, Mexico, New Zealand. Then she returned to France with the question: what to do? She met Charles, and they both wanted to make wine. And to do it the way they wanted, the way they felt it. There was no question of working in any other way than organic. They settled in the Jura, it was obvious, not only because of their origins, but also because it is a magnificent wine-growing region. Alice began by following Charles, but the revelation of natural wine came to her later, with the meeting with Stéphane Planche, sommelier at Jean-Paul Jeunet, and the tastings that followed: "But that's good! It's not wine, it's not what I learned! But it's what I want to do. And if I manage to do it, I'll be the happiest person in the world." »

Terroir and Soils

The vineyard is planted on highly diverse marl-limestone soils, typical of the region. These are warm plots, whose sloping location, generally facing south, favors the ripening of the grapes.

Plots and Grape Varieties

The estate, located just north of Arbois, covers numerous terroirs and lieux-dits: En Curon, Les Corvées, En Poussot, La Mailloche, En Arces, etc. The grape varieties are composed of equal parts red and white grape varieties. These are the traditional Jura cultivars: Poulsard, Trousseau, and Pinot Noir for the reds, Chardonnay and Savagnin for the whites. The average age of the vines is forty years. Alongside her Arbois wines, Alice has created a grape growing business (certified AB by Écocert) with her winegrower friends from the region who share her vision.

Growing Methods

The estate has been run organically since its inception. Demeter certification (biodynamic) was obtained in 2010. No chemical inputs are added to the vines; harvesting is done by hand. "We don't do any analysis; we taste the grapes: once, twice, three times, four times. Charles and I would systematically go and taste the grapes together in the vineyards. We say to ourselves: 'That's it, this little plot is good; then this one, and that one.' And when we harvest, we know that the result will be consistent with what we tasted. That's also what living wine is all about: the search for your own truth." »

Vinification

"When you work the vines organically," says Alice, "you necessarily want to vinify with indigenous yeasts, and you go all the way: you no longer want to add sulfur because it's unnecessary. You let the grapes macerate for a long time, because it's like an infusion: you don't touch it. Cooling and heating are a huge intervention that changes the profile of the wine. You accompany it, you monitor it constantly." The grapes are destemmed by hand, vinified without sulfur or any other additives, and using natural yeasts. Vatting takes place at cellar temperature. As for the winery, Alice goes to the winegrowers in the morning to harvest and brings the grapes back to Arbois the same day. As with the estate's wines, vinification and aging are carried out without any additives and without filtration for bottling. Each winemaker's grapes are vinified separately, then blended in the spring.

The Wines

Crafted by a music lover, L'Octavin's vintages often reference classical composers, opera characters, or music in general (Zerlina, Papageno, Dorabella, etc.). These are very natural, committed, highly drinkable wines, and made using a single-plot method: the Don Giovanni vintage, for example, comes from a very old plot planted with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, and both grape varieties are present in the bottle. "I never talk about minerality," says Alice; "I talk about acidity and freshness." She emphasizes the exemplary nature of Poulsard as the model grape variety for natural wine: fresh, lively, and pleasant to drink. Another principle: the unexpected and the original. The vintages appear, disappear, and reappear depending on inspiration and the vintage.