SAMUEL BOULAY
Rappapéo 2017
Ardèche, France
Viognier from a parcel of sixty year old vines near the banks of the Ibie. This was given a gentle press straight to old barrels, where the wine rested for two years without being topped up. This is a wonderful expression of the grape that is a world away from the rich, oily examples one so often finds. With gentle flavours of apricot, white flowers and minerals, this is good as it gets.
Viognier
ABOUT THE PRODUCER
Originally from the Loire, in 2013 Samuel moved to Les Salelles, a small village on the banks of the River Ibie in a particularly beautiful part of the Ardèche.
Here, he farms five hectares of old vineyards that teem with life. Samuel doesn’t cut the grass between the rows and treats the vines only with homeopathic treatments and plants according to the moon’s cycle.
In the cellar he is a purist. The wines are aged in old oak barrels for a year or two and unusually, are not topped up at any stage. He works without electricity, the wines are bottled by gravity with no additions and labelled by hand.
Samuel’s gentle and discrete nature makes for wines of rare purity. They have an energy, harmony and nourishing quality that is incredibly compelling.