Patrick Bouju's Domaine de La Bohème is located in the village of Saint-Georges-sur-Allier, in south-central France, in a region called Massif Santoral about 40 km east of Clermont-Ferrand. Here the soils are thin and of volcanic origin, and enjoy a unique climate, with little rainfall, hot summers and cold winters, and strong variations between day and night, unique conditions for growing vines. Patrick worked as a programmer at IBM, and on the weekends he wandered around cellars. The most important decision of his life was made after meeting Pierre Bose who taught him the first notions of viticulture. Until 2002 he produced his wine using weekends and holidays but, in 2003 he decided to leave his job at IBM to found Domaine de La Bohème. Today he cultivates about 5 hectares of vineyards, most of which are planted with Gamay and Pinot Noir, but we also find almost extinct grape varieties such as Limberger, Mirefleurien, and multiple types of Gamay, such as Fréau, Bouze and Gamay d'Auvergne. These vines, some of which are centuries old, are worked with great respect for nature, in an organic way in order to have healthy grapes. Patrick does most of the work in the vineyard manually, and for the treatment he does not use herbicides or synthetic chemicals, but products based on copper and sulfur, as well as fermented plant extracts or herbal infusions, such as nettle, horsetail, which serve to strengthen the natural defenses of the vine. In the cellar, Patrick tries to intervene little in the winemaking, and vinifies the parcels separately to seek the characteristics of the different soils. Spontaneous fermentations without the use of sulfur and aging in the most disparate containers, ranging from steel tanks, to oak barriques, to amphorae.
Patrick Bouju's Domaine de La Bohème is located in the village of Saint-Georges-sur-Allier, in south-central France, in a region called Massif Santoral about 40 km east of Clermont-Ferrand. Here the soils are thin and of volcanic origin, and enjoy a unique climate, with little rainfall, hot summers and cold winters, and strong variations between day and night, unique conditions for growing vines. Patrick worked as a programmer at IBM, and on the weekends he wandered around cellars. The most important decision of his life was made after meeting Pierre Bose who taught him the first notions of viticulture. Until 2002 he produced his wine using weekends and holidays but, in 2003 he decided to leave his job at IBM to found Domaine de La Bohème. Today he cultivates about 5 hectares of vineyards, most of which are planted with Gamay and Pinot Noir, but we also find almost extinct grape varieties such as Limberger, Mirefleurien, and multiple types of Gamay, such as Fréau, Bouze and Gamay d'Auvergne. These vines, some of which are centuries old, are worked with great respect for nature, in an organic way in order to have healthy grapes. Patrick does most of the work in the vineyard manually, and for the treatment he does not use herbicides or synthetic chemicals, but products based on copper and sulfur, as well as fermented plant extracts or herbal infusions, such as nettle, horsetail, which serve to strengthen the natural defenses of the vine. In the cellar, Patrick tries to intervene little in the winemaking, and vinifies the parcels separately to seek the characteristics of the different soils. Spontaneous fermentations without the use of sulfur and aging in the most disparate containers, ranging from steel tanks, to oak barriques, to amphorae.
