SAMUEL BOULAY
Ritournelle 2020
Ardèche, France
Roussanne from fifty year old vines, pressed over several days to cuve, where the wine remained for a year. A brilliant shade of yellow in the glass, this draws you in with tropical fruit, herbs and brine and displays great tension and drive. This was pure magic outside in the spring sunshine at Sam’s and we are pleased to report it is tasting just as good since it arrived.
Roussanne
ABOUT THE PRODUCER
Originally from the Loire, Samuel worked for many years alongside the legendary Michel Augé of Les Maisons Brûlées, whilst quietly releasing some of the most original wines we have tasted from the region.
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. He farms five hectares of old vineyards which are surrounded by forest, planted over clay and limestone, and visibly teem with life. Samuel doesn’t cut the grass between the rows and treats the vines only with homoeopathic treatments according to the moon’s cycle. There is a real sensitivity to his work and a sense of serenity pervades.
In the cellar he is a purist. He favours long, slow presses for both whites and reds and each wine is aged for as long as deemed necessary. Working without electricity, each wine is bottled by gravity with no additions and labelled by hand.
Samuel’s gentle and discrete nature makes for wines that possess an energy and harmony that are rare to find. These are complex, challenging wines which truly reward those who wait.