Domaine La Bouïssière is run by the Faravel brothers Thierry and Gilles, whose father Antonin started working with
one of the great old Gigondas houses in 1942, and is a local legend for planting the most vines in Mountain area
until the 1960s. During his mornings, nights, and weekends, Antonin and his wife Geneviève began clearing bush and trees in the Col du Cayron hills below the Dentelles de Montmirail, at 500 meters elevation, using the natural geographic profile to marry vines to the slopes harmoniously - without manipluating the terroir - the more difficult way to plant in the mountains.
Today the Faravels farm these original 9 hectares in the Col dy Cayron section of Gigondas, as well as another 11 hectares between Baumes-de-Venise, Vacqueyras, and Côtes-du-Rhône appellations. When we mentioned Les Pallières to Thierry (the Gigondas estate I knew most during my previous assignment) he began waxing poetic about a bottle of 1990 that he had recently tried, wine of a time before the introduction of de-stemming.
Or as Hermitage legend, Gérard Chave put it, “Where is the truth? The truth is in the old bottles, before all the tricks and mar- keting came along.” Domaine La Bouïssière leaves most of their Grenache in whole bunches for Gigondas,
ferments only using native yeasts, ages in large old foudres, and bottles without fining or filtration.
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