The name Boutinot may not be immediately familiar, but you will undoubtedly have drunk a wine made by this significant importer, distributor and producer. The company was started by Paul Boutinot over 40 years ago, and although he sold up in 2013 (partly to concentrate on his estate, Waterkloof, in South Africa) the company continued in his name.
Boutinot now exclusively imports and represent the wines of over 200 producers, with a portfolio of 1700 wines. It operates in 50 countries and employs over 200 staff, with an annual turnover of around £175 million. But Boutinot today is also a substantial vineyard-owning and wine-making business. They have vineyards in France, South Africa, England and New Zealand.
They say their love affair with the Southern Rhône spans thirty years of making wine in the region. In 2010 they purchased a winery and vineyards above the village of Cairanne. Cairanne is one of the Rhône Villages ‘Crus’, and Domaine Boutinot farms seven separate vineyards planted with classic southern Rhône grape varieties.
They also work alongside neighbouring winegrowers to revive traditional grape varieties such as Cinsault and Counoise, the wines made in a very traditional way with fermentation by natural yeasts and maturation in mostly large French oak barrels and vats.
I tasted two impressive wines from Domaine Boutinot’s Cairanne property, both the white and red wines very traditional blends for the region.