Patrick Bouju
Iconic French winemaker Patrick Bouju is a minimal intervention maestro, producing cult natural wines with vigour and respect and has helped breathe new life into Auvergne.
Like most of us, Patrick first fell in love with wine whilst at University and quickly grew a distaste for classical wine after discovering he had a sulphur allergy. Following on from his chemical studies, Patrick joined the military where he fought alongside sons of lo-fi winemakers, inspiring him to go on to study viticulture and learn how to experiment with grapes in order to produce wine that he could stomach.
Life after study saw Patrick move to the village of Glaine-Montaigut in the Auvergne, establishing Domaine La Boheme from high-altitude vineyards – a terroir rich in complexity and volcanic soils. There is a scarcity of vines in this region, having been wiped out by phylloxera after Wold War I and II, making his 5 hectares of sloped vines a special piece of Southern French history.
Patrick Bouju is now one of this movement’s best-known names, largely thanks to the success of his négoce wines (wines vinified using grapes that are cultivated by another grower). Naturally curious and deeply passionate about the craft, Patrick has used the négoce as a way of testing out different kinds of wine. The grapes for this side of his wine making are sourced from grape-growing friends on plots he adores (places like the Alsace, Savoie, Beaujolais, Languedoc and even Greece). This range adds yet more complexity to the rare and fine cuvées produced from grapes grown on his own estate with some vines aging back 120 years.
Already a solidified trailblazer and pioneer in the natural wine scene, Bouju gained hype-beast status after a wild party in Paris a few years back where he debuted a collab wine he made with chef/YouTube menace and natural wine bon vivant, Action Bronson... Et voila! Rockstar status achieved.
Part of the allure to a Boujo wine is the knowledge that to this day, Patrick runs every aspect of the winery himself, from working in the vineyards (by horse of course), to crushing, bottling, labelling, and bookkeeping. His rare, small-batch wines are packed with flavour and it’s his energy and enthusiasm that has roused so many of us into changing the way we think about wine – so don’t just take our word for it – see for yourself.
Like most of us, Patrick first fell in love with wine whilst at University and quickly grew a distaste for classical wine after discovering he had a sulphur allergy. Following on from his chemical studies, Patrick joined the military where he fought alongside sons of lo-fi winemakers, inspiring him to go on to study viticulture and learn how to experiment with grapes in order to produce wine that he could stomach.
Life after study saw Patrick move to the village of Glaine-Montaigut in the Auvergne, establishing Domaine La Boheme from high-altitude vineyards – a terroir rich in complexity and volcanic soils. There is a scarcity of vines in this region, having been wiped out by phylloxera after Wold War I and II, making his 5 hectares of sloped vines a special piece of Southern French history.
Patrick Bouju is now one of this movement’s best-known names, largely thanks to the success of his négoce wines (wines vinified using grapes that are cultivated by another grower). Naturally curious and deeply passionate about the craft, Patrick has used the négoce as a way of testing out different kinds of wine. The grapes for this side of his wine making are sourced from grape-growing friends on plots he adores (places like the Alsace, Savoie, Beaujolais, Languedoc and even Greece). This range adds yet more complexity to the rare and fine cuvées produced from grapes grown on his own estate with some vines aging back 120 years.
Already a solidified trailblazer and pioneer in the natural wine scene, Bouju gained hype-beast status after a wild party in Paris a few years back where he debuted a collab wine he made with chef/YouTube menace and natural wine bon vivant, Action Bronson... Et voila! Rockstar status achieved.
Part of the allure to a Boujo wine is the knowledge that to this day, Patrick runs every aspect of the winery himself, from working in the vineyards (by horse of course), to crushing, bottling, labelling, and bookkeeping. His rare, small-batch wines are packed with flavour and it’s his energy and enthusiasm that has roused so many of us into changing the way we think about wine – so don’t just take our word for it – see for yourself.