Walls’ hidden gems: The delicious originality of Château Boucarut

To paraphrase Shakespeare: some are born into vineyards, some buy vineyards, and some have vineyards thrust upon them.

It was the last of these three that destiny chose for Saskia Goetschy.

But arriving in the Rhône with fresh eyes has granted her and her husband Maurice Goetschy an original interpretation of Lirac and Tavel.

Scroll down for notes and scores for Château Boucarut wines

New beginnings

Saskia spent her childhood in Malaga, southern Spain, where her father was a workaholic lawyer. Her mother wanted the family to spend more time together, so they looked at some properties in rural France.

‘One day, my father came back from the office,’ says Saskia, ‘and he said “remember that house with the vineyards? Well I bought it.”’

And just like that, she had to pack her things and move to France.

This was in 1993 when she was still a kid. Was it as magical as it sounds? ‘No, it was really stressful!’ she says, ‘Changing life, changing country, not knowing the language… but I had no choice!’

The property, deep in the vineyards of Lirac, was a large mas called Château Boucarut that dates back to 1758.

To begin with they needed somewhere else to stay as the buildings required significant renovation. Saskia’s mother got talking to a local man one day who happened to be launching his own winemaking career, and he had enough space to put them up.

As luck would have it, this man turned out to be star winemaker Rodolphe de Pins of Château de Montfaucon. Saskia’s family lodged in his château for two years.

To Luxembourg and back

After school, Saskia studied law, then moved to Luxembourg where she worked at a legal firm for 12 years.

It was there she met Maurice, and they spent holidays together at Château Boucarut. They dreamt about spending their distant retirement on the property making wine.

When a block of vines that bordered the property came on the market, Saskia realised they simply had to buy it – or forever be blamed by future generations for missing the opportunity.

For two years they tried to manage the vineyards from Luxembourg but it proved impossible.

In 2019, they decided to give up their careers in law and return permanently to Boucarut.

Back to the vines

By the time they returned, they had already started converting the vineyards to organic.

‘There was no option,’ says Maurice, ‘by that time, everybody knew it worked.’

He believed it was crucial to maintain local biodiversity. ‘But you have to go further,’ he says.

A common way to control weeds and unwanted grass without herbicides is to plough the soils mechanically, but he’s not satisfied with this option either.

He believes that ripping up the earth disrupts the life within the soils, including elements you can’t see, like networks of mycelia.

‘If you put a cat in a blender, it’s not a cat anymore,’ he says.

They’re working towards no-till farming, where the soils are not ploughed and or worked, and their eventual intention is regenerative viticulture – an approach that prioritises improvement of soil health.

In the winery, they work with as little manipulation as possible – no commercial yeasts or added enzymes, no sulphites before bottling and no fining or filtration.

They cite the great Eric Pfifferling of Domaine l’Anglore as an inspiration.

Outsider’s vision

The result is a range of wines with vibrancy, immediacy and drinkability.

In natural wine circles, you sometimes hear people talking about ‘living wines’.

Wines aren’t literally alive, of course; but when you taste these wines, the expression makes sense.

I’m sure many newcomers envy those who are born into winemaking families, inheriting vines, wineries and full cellars.

But not all legacies are desirable. Sometimes complacency and blinkered sight comes with the territory.

‘We didn’t have the heritage of parents, grandparents… we could begin more or less from zero,’ says Maurice.

It allows them to make a fresh read of this old terroir – and come up with something deliciously original.

Discover the wines from Château Boucarut:

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