Do you know this property nestled in Saint-Emilion? Château Boutisse is a family property that covers 27 hectares, 24.7 of which are planted with vines. The rest being occupied by buildings, hedges, embankments, etc. Today and since 1996 the estate is the property of the Milhade family. It produces two qualities of wine there. Seventy percent of the production made is the first wine, Château Boutisse and twenty percent is the second wine, Baron de Boutisse.
Let’s go together to meet Marc Milhade, enthusiastic and fascinating owner of Château Boutisse to help us discover this nugget.
Above all, why do you make wine as a profession?
Marc Milhade: Did I really have the choice? I fell into it when I was little, coming from a family of winegrowers! So the question didn’t really arise… Before getting into the family vineyard, I worked in another sector of activity. Indeed, initially I was an automotive engineer: so I started working at Peugeot. When I was younger, I was very attracted, like my son today, by the scientific, technical, practical side, by mechanics, electronics, electricity… in short, I liked to put my hands in the sludge! I worked in this sector for a year and a half… But in the end I realized that almost all my engineering internships were related
to wine! I was in a cooperage in Spain. I made presentations of files, scientific studies always related to wine. Naturally, after this experience at Peugeot (French car builder) in Paris, I quickly understood that I had to go home. Because it was my pleasure, this family side, nature…
And then when you are in wine, you get a taste for it. I had taken part like all the children of winegrowers, in the harvest. I have lots of memories, smells, tastes, moments, harvests… It’s in my genes!
Can you describe your passion for wine?
M.M.: What I like about wine is that it’s a universal product.Indeedwecanshareit:it’sconviviality.Without forgetting that it is sharp, it is precise, it is technical. Wine affectseveryone,everyoneisinterestedinit. Thisisthekindof job that attracts. For example, when you go to a party with people you don’t know, everyone is interested in what you’re doing! That’s why it’s universal: everyone has had a history with wine. It’s sharing, conviviality, gastronomy, good times, family memories…
What are the strengths of the Château Boutisse terroirs?
M.M.: The strength of the terroirs of Château Boutisse is its diversity even if paradoxically we often tend to speak of homogeneity. We are located on the plateau of Saint Emilion, in its continuity but also with hilly areas. We are at the limit of the rupture at the end of the plateau so we have intermediate, lower zones… Loamy, clayey soils, limestone soils with different depths. This diversity of soils makes it possible to play when blending. Generally from the harvest we already have an idea of the plots that will go into the first or second wine. But we also have intermediate plots that change from one year to the next.
What is the signature? Blindfolded, what makes Château Boutisse different?
M.M.: It’s not an easy question…it takes humility with this kind of exercise. I do not pretend to say that we can recognize, qualitatively, Château Boutisse blindly because all the neighbors also have a high level of quality. However, I focus on making wines that respect the raw material. I cut my teeth from 2005 to 2010/2012 and I got into habits like putting wood, barrels, having concentration, material: it was the so-called Parker influence time. We had followed the movement… But from 2010/2012, we started to ease our feet on the extractions / use of wood. And even more strongly from 2016 when we started
working with the Derenon court team. We wanted to put the terroir back in the foreground and we stopped using complex and useless oenological processes. This is what allows me to recognize Château Boutisse blind today: the purity, the fruit, a reasonable woody approach with the use of large containers (400/500L), barrels of several wines… We have reduced the supply of wood but we have concentrated on the purchase of quality barrels.
Do you have any specific plans for the property?
M.M.: The first project is the transition to organic. We are in the second year of conversion. It is not easy. Since 2012, we have stopped weeding. We do a good job on the ground. But there is the whole organic approach to protecting the vineyard which was more delicate. And so that’s part of the current project. We would like to finish this before attacking technical projects. We will also see what the future will tell us. We have already developed a beautiful agro-ecological structure.
Where does the name of Château Boutisse come from?
I don’t have the precise origin of this word. However it is related to the stones. A header is a cut stone that is placed in a wall according to the length and of which only the end is visible. Even if I don’t have a history, I like to communicate about it because Saint-Emilion is linked to stone, to the local stone quarries which supplied the cities of Bordeaux and Libourne for their constructions. Moreover, we have a small quarry under the main building. The previous owner had little history too so that’s my interpretation of the name!
Thanks to the Milhade family for their friendly hospitality. – J.C.C.
Château Boutisse
Lieu dit Boutis
33330 Saint-Christophe-des-Bardes (France)
www.chateau-boutisse.fr
