La Cotes de Thau Rosé, Maison Boutinot

Like all good stories, that of Boutinot France is both long and a little bit complicated! Boutinot began as a tiny importer in Manchester in 1980, specialising in French wines. Paul Boutinot himself b

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Like all good stories, that of Boutinot France is both long and a little bit complicated! Boutinot began as a tiny importer in Manchester in 1980, specialising in French wines. Paul Boutinot himself began by personally selecting the wines from France, back in the UK he would unload the trailer by hand. And deliver the crates of wines to customers himself. But good things grow and by the end of the decade Boutinot France was etablished. The first office was in the middle of the vines in Julienas; perfectly located to navigate the Beaujolais and Macon regions on the quest to make beautiful wines.

Samantha Bailey, who started as a wine enthusiast, was there at the beginning of this adventure. Since then, she has grown into their Master Blender and has key responsibilities: building long-standing relationships, tasting, understanding the terroir and appellations, and pushing the boundaries. She is at the heart of the whole process from blending to quality assessment, making sure there is always a Boutinot touch in every cuvée.

Today, Boutinot’s French office has recently relocated to Macon, and produces fresh whites and rosés from Gascony, mineral wines from Burgundy, and joyful varietal wines from Languedoc among others. They don’t use any single model to source our wines; instead, a combination of sources are used, from large-scale, high-quality co-ops to small, family growers and single domaines, as well as their own vineyards in Cairanne and Saint-Vérand. Drawing on the expertise of four winemakers and a network of partner growers, they seek to deliver the highest quality-to-price ratio possible for every wine.