DOMAINE DE L’OCTAVIN
Potion Magique 2018
Jura, France
A mind-bending field blend of 40% Poulsard, 40% Chardonnay and 20% Savagnin from La Mailloche. Picked on the 5th of September, these were the first grapes Alice harvested in the Jura. The grapes were destemmed and fermented on the skins for seven months in cuve. This is just the most incredible colour, with wild aromas of spiced quince and a lovely blood orange bitterness to the finish. Thrillingly unique.
Poulsard, Chardonnay, Savagnin
ABOUT THE PRODUCER
Despite having trained in Bordeaux and Burgundy, Alice Bouvot knew that when it came time to start her own domaine, it would be time to return home. In 2004 she bought a small cellar in Arbois and a couple of hectares of vines in the hills surrounding the village.
Alice now farms around five hectares of Chardonnay, Savagnin, Poulsard, Trousseau and Pinot Noir, with holdings in some of the region’s very best lieu-dits such as En Curon, La Mailloche, Les Nouvelles and Les Corvées. Vineyard work is done by hand and her love of working in the vines is well known, with biodynamic farming used to great effect in retaining a real biodiversity in the vineyard. These are some of the most beautiful parcels we have seen. After a number of lean vintages, Alice had to look further afield to make ends meet and now harvests grapes at trusted friends’ properties all over France, making an equally exciting range of négociant wines.
In a good year, she makes a dazzling number of cuvées. There is no recipe and winemaking is dynamic, with decisions being made only once the fruit has been brought to the cellar, where fermentation, vessels and élevage vary from parcel to parcel and vintage to vintage, though nothing is ever added at any stage.
It’s a refreshingly free approach that yields individual wines of real character, the common thread being a sort of boundless energy, where each is as exciting, nourishing and delicious as the last.