5 Questions for Julio Bouchon, Bouchon Family Wines & Longavi

Interview by Jill Kwiatkoski, Sommelier (CAPS)

When you are born and raised surrounded by vineyards and a family history of winemaking that spans over 130 years, you are bound to embrace your family legacy and carry on the traditions. The Bouchon family’s wine lineage spans both international borders and generations. Emile Bouchon emigrated to Chile from a tiny wine region in France in the late 1880s to start the family wine cellar in Colchagua Valley. His grandson, Julio Sr, studied in France and returned to Chile to expand their family vineyards into the Maule Valley. Today, fourth-generation winemaker and producer Julio Bouchon proudly runs Bouchon Family Wines alongside his brother Juan and sister Maria. He is the global ambassador of the family brand and is making his own mark in history with Longavi—a new international winery project with his long-time friend, David Nieuwoudt, from South Africa.

How does your family history as immigrants from France contribute to the identity of Bouchon Family Wines?

Well, easy: the wine is in our blood. When you are born into a family that has been dedicated to wine, it is part of your tradition. When you are a little kid, you see wine on the table; when you see your grandfather working out in the vineyards, it’s in your DNA.

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What is the significance of having the word “family” in the winery name?

The family is part of every process, every little detail. From important decisions to meeting all of our customers— always, the family is there. So, in the end, the project has a lot of our personality and our own style. We are part of a place—Secano Interior in Maule—and we try to express that region through our wine. When it is the same family making wine in the same place for generations, every bottle carries our stamp.

How did your partnership with your friend David Nieuwoudt come about, and how have your family traditions impacted the creation of your joint wine, Longavi?

We met in London 20 years ago, presenting our wines at the London Wine Fair. He was next to me in the Bancroft Wines stand. I tasted his wines; he tasted my wines; we had some beer after the show. The year after was the same and then the same again, and we became great friends. We were young, and we wanted to make our own wines, which is also a part of our family tradition. I am part of the fourth generation at Bouchon, and David is the fifth generation at Cederberg in the Western Cape in South Africa, so we have very similar family heritages. I think this was the key to starting to make wine together because we have the same vision. We are farmers, not businessmen. When we started in 2012, we wanted to make something very different, but we ended up making Cabernet and Sauvignon Blanc—so not really different from our families. Then after some years, we came up with the Glup wines, which are all about natural fermentations and old vines from heritage varieties—very different from the more classic approach of our families. from my great-grandfather, such as Pais, Cinsault, Semillon, and Carignan. These varieties are really old in our region, Maule, so they are really well adapted. These days, with the effects of global warming, they are performing much better even though they are dry farmed (without irrigation or trellises). I think Chilean grapes and wines are incredible, but we Chileans must work on our image to promote our more interesting wines. The Pacific and the Andes have an incredible climate, great soils, and you know what else? We have amazing people.

A lot of people think that being “sustainable” applies strictly to soil and land practices. What does “sustainability” mean to you and your family?

To be sustainable is not just focusing on land and soil. It is much more complex, where your economy must be a healthy circle. Most important are the people who are working on the project and the growers of your grapes. You need to have a sustainable relationship with them and treat them well instead of making it just a transaction.

Has your family ever made planting decisions based on trends (for example, when the popularity of Carménère grew), or have you always stuck to planting what grows best in your vineyards?

Well, this is a great question. For many years in the 1990s, we focused on Bordeaux varieties because this was an easy sell and what the wineries were doing for exports. We followed that trend for 20 years. Now the new generation is 100% focused on patrimonial varieties from vines passed down