2023 La Ferme Viticole Libre Arbitre
WINEMAKER: Bastien Boutareaud
REGION: Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, FR
VARIETY: Nielluccio, Sciacarello, Cinsault, Aramon
VITICULTURE: Organic
40% Nielluccio/30% Sciacarello/20% Cinsault/10% Aramon on stony, calcareous soils; carbonic macerated field blend in steel followed by six months in old oak; sans soufre!
It’s said that you can sense a winemaker in their wine: if a wine is stuffy and inaccessible, so too might be the winemaker. So when we tasted Bastien Boutereaud’s raw, vivacious and complex wine, we weren’t surprised in the slightest—he’s so hands off we’re not sure when he’s hands on! This is one of the most invigorating reds we’ve drunk this year! Paradoxically so much substance in an otherwise delicate frame. Drink cool!
I was first introduced to Bastien Boutareaud 4 years ago by our mutual great friend: BK of Adelaide Hills notoriety. Like many great producers, Bastien was first a sommelier for more than 10 years. His work took him on many trips through France and internationally (including Australia). ‘Garage’ wine soon graduated to a fledging commercial operation and in 2017 ‘La Ferme Viticole’ (The Wine Farm) was born. Bastien organically farms three unique sites, to- talling a minuscule 2.5 Hectares.
The first: Located in the town of Les Baux de Provence at the base of the his- toric Chateau des Baux-de-Provence in the heart of the Chaîne des Alpilles. This is a 0.5 Hectare of vines planted from 1955 to the present day. 6 different grape varieties grow here: Clairette, Grenache, Alicante, Cabernet Sauvignon, Aramon and Malaga. The second: Located in the town of St Rémy de Provence is an 0.8 Hectare vineyard planted to Cabernet Sauvignon. This was Planted in 1999. The third: young vines planted in 2018. 2 plots, one white and one red, planted with different grape varieties as well as rootstocks awaiting future grafting. See you around 2022. No treatments are applied here whatsoever, not even copper or sulphur.
All the vines are goblet pruned and worked only with horse and hoe as well as manual human labour. No sulphur is added in the winery at any stage.