The Boutière family - father Guy, wife Lydia, and son Mathieu - are a close-knit bunch indeed. The family is completely committed to their wines and the terroir giving rise to them. They are making some of the finest wines in their appellation - one of the most important Crus of the Southern Rhone - of Gigondas, and they are doing so from prime vineyard sites in the hills around the craggy peaks of Les Dentelles de Montmirail.

Guy turned over the winemaking responsibilities to Mathieu in 2002 - seemingly a good year for many vignerons to retire, from what I’ve seen in the Rhone as well as Piedmont in Italy (both regions suffered terrible vintages in 2002). At the time barely 20 years old, Matthieu took his new responsibilities seriously, and after finishing his studies in Montepellier and Avignon, now makes some of the finest Gigondas in the entire appellation. (In truth, he starts with fine raw materials.) Some of his innovations include a judicious amount of destemming and cold-soaking.

Remarkably, the winery sells about 50% of its production out the cellar door - indicating the wines are true expressions of the appellation and are wines the French themselves drink. For us as the  importer, that's a really important measure of the veracity of a producer. The estate also produces about 4,000 bottles of superb Vacqueyras from about 1 Ha of vines; very little is exported and none makes its way to the US -- at least not yet!