Henri Chauvet | Côtes d’Auvergne
When you are a small grower from an obscure region, hype alone will not get you into the shortlist of serious wine geeks or the best wine lists. Much less so in your first vintage. It requires the real stuff: talent, grit, panache, and the wines that show it. Henri Chauvet’s wines are full of it, turning heads with a purity and class that may very well prove that they are the pioneering fine wines from Côtes d’Auvergne.
Henri Chauvet grew up in the South-West. He was a banking and insurance professional before the call of the vines beckoned. A hard reboot was in order, so he went back to school to study viticulture and oenology. Inspired by noble natural wines, he trained with maestros of the genre — notably Jérôme Bressy in Rasteau and the legendary Thierry Allemand in Cornas — to hone his craft.
He began searching for vineyards in Beaujolais and Anjou at the same time. However, it was during a trip past Auvergne that he felt his destiny calling. As the son of an Auvergnat father, Henri’s new adventure has brought him back home.
Serendipity led him to an enviable estate for sale in Boudes, a renowned wine village near Issoire, south of Clermont Ferrand. The new acquisition gave Henri a jumpstart as he took over vineyards which were already ecologically managed. Full organics conversion became the next immediate step. The vineyards have diverse soil compositions, including red clay rich in iron-oxide, marls and volcanic, basaltic soils. Gamay dominates, with sub-varieties and older vines which promise complexity. Pinot noir and chardonnay are also present. Most of the vineyards are on steep slopes, with some exceeding 30º in incline.
Vineyard work is paramount to his ethos. Henri spends most of his time under the skies, increasingly working with horses to ease soil compaction and better access tricky sections in his steep terrains.
Henri’s philosophy and training direct his low-intervention practices. Vinification is always spontaneously triggered by wild yeasts and nothing else added. Every parcel is vinified separately, always in whole bunches. Fining and filtration are completely avoided. While he is not dogmatic about the use of sulphur, Henri aims to eliminate it entirely.
The resulting wines are magnificent, even from the first release. Precise, pure and energising, they possess a tranquil depth which resolves into an airy mouthfeel. The buzz continues. But the wines are truly worth talking about (though we much prefer drinking them). His debut vintage showed up on France’s top wine lists right away, and by the second vintage, his tiny production had reached all the important markets worldwide.
A star in the ascendancy? Perhaps, but to us it is more than that. It is getting loud, we know, but try to block out the hype. Just taste — and believe.
