Where it all began
Some thirty years ago, the search began for a range of interesting, high quality, well priced wines with a story. Wines made by mavericks, wines with soul and character, wines that would make you reach for the bottle and ask … WOW! What the heck was that?
This search was inspired by Paul Boutinot, the son of a successful restaurateur, whose passion for food and wine is in his blood. Paul became disillusioned by the inferior wines available to the on-trade at this time, so headed off to France to purchase quality house wines for his parent’s restaurant. Word soon spread as restaurants in the north west of England asked Paul to supply wines for their own restaurants. This was the very beginning of what was to become a thriving international wine business.
Boutinot – Own production
The Boutinot vision and stylistic ideals of how wine should be made were put to the test with the establishment of our own production site in France (just outside of Beaujolais) in 1989. The company rapidly grew production by expanding into South Africa in 1994, and with the False Bay Vineyards founded in the Cape in 1999. Investment in South African vineyards continued in 2004 with the development of a state of the art winery (Waterkloof Estate) in Stellenbosch.
A passion for France, in particular the Rhône (where in 2010 vineyards and cellars were purchased), exciting joint venture projects with like-minded producers in Italy (Adria Vini owned by Boutinot and Araldica Vini Piemontesi, the leading co-operative in northwest Italy) and Spain, plus developments in the New World, see the business continue to grow and prosper.
