Visit us to shop and hang in person or order online for quick and easy pick up.
Address
210 EAST VERMILION STREET LAFAYETTE, LA 70501
Hours
Tues-Thurs
1pm-7pm
Friday & Saturday
1pm-8pm
Closed Sunday & Monday
21 and Over Only to Buy Wine.
Choose In-store Pickup To Order Wine Online.
We Do Not Ship Wine or Alcohol.
We do ship Everything Else!
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A blend of 85% Viura and 15% Garnacha Blanca from nine plots in Rioja Alavesa. Since the ‘19 vintage, Olivier’s has moved this project to the village of Cárdenas, where he has been expanding his vineyard holdings. Olivier considers this wine his Côtes de Nuits Blanc in his own internal hierarchy. Grapes are hand-harvested, left whole cluster, and are co-fermented in French oak foudres, 500-600L barrels, and concrete tanks. Aged 8-10 months.
Olivier was born and raised south of Bordeaux, in Cognac. He studied enology in Montagne St-Emilion, focusing on biodynamic farming and cut his teeth working for such luminaries as Domaine de Chassorney, Elian da Ros and Domaine Leroy. In 2004 he was lured into Spain by Telmo Rodriguez to help him convert his vineyards to biodynamics. By 2006 he had started his first project in Rioja.
Coming from France, Olivier has an innate sense of terroir. Unlike many of his peers in Rioja, he bases his cuvées not on political boundaries or the length of barrel aging but on terroir. He believes in a quality hierarchy inspired by Burgundy with generic Appellation and Village wines at the base and Premier and Grand cru wines at the top. This is how to best understand what Olivier is doing in Rioja, rather than the traditional Crianza, Reserva, Gran Reserva model. As Olivier has steadily and carefully grown his production, he’s been hampered by the high prices for land and grapes in Rioja. As a result, he ventured into Arlanza; a relatively new DO located between Rioja and Ribera del Duero. In Arlanza, he found high-elevation vineyards of Tempranillo (some quite ancient) intermixed with a scattering of Garnacha and Albillo. This mountain fruit is potentially sterner stuff than what Olivier had grown accustomed to in Rioja, but it is remarkably vibrant and complex in his hands.
In keeping with his education and avocation, nearly all of Olivier’s vineyard sources – whether owned or leased – are farmed organically with biodynamic practices. The fruit is harvested by hand, and each variety is fermented separately. Depending on the source, it may be partially destemmed or fermented whole cluster. Fermentations are with indigenous yeasts. Macerations are gentle and short. Aging takes place in stainless steel or cement tanks, foudre, and barrel. SO2 is kept to a minimum, usually added only before bottling.
These wines represent a novel approach that relies almost entirely on the specificity of site and the transparency of his winemaking necessary to capture it.
Denny & Katie
Owners
Your friendly neighborhood wine shop and tiny bar, focused on small production wines and conservas. Connect with us on Instagram for suggestions on your next bottle and to follow along in our downtown Lafayette wine journey.
Visit us to shop and hang in person or order online for quick and easy pick up.
Hours
Tues-Thurs
1pm-7pm
Friday & Saturday
1pm-8pm
Closed Sunday & Monday