In Lahonce, in the artisanal area of the station, Julien Baudouin installed in July 2023 a chai not like the others: a cellar without vines.
A bold project, which he named Le Chai Côtier, which gently questions the very foundations of traditional viticulture.
From the Poitevin Marais to the Basque Coast.
Originally from the Marais Poitevin (Deux-Sèvres), Julien discovers the vineyard thanks to his grandfather, who cultivated hybrids and made his own wine, pineau and grape juice.
After a career in communication and marketing, he resumed his studies and spent four years in training at Christophe Pueyo in Libourne to learn the profession of winemaker. Once he graduated, he laid his tanks in the Basque Country.
Vinifier, not winemaker and it's assumed!
The winemaker cultivates the vine, the winemaker transforms the grapes into wine, the winemaker makes both.
Julien chose to be a winemaker, by duress (the winery is rare and expensive in the Basque Country) but also by taste: "it is a way for me to start, to propose cuvées before why not plant".
In the meantime, he bought his grapes from three southwestern wine growers, in organic farming, on terroirs such as Madiran, Blaye and Touches-de-Périgny. Cabernet Sauvignon, big manseng, ugni white, he chooses his grape varieties as one composes a disc.
Live cuvées, marines, Basque spirits!
The first bottles were released in the spring of 2024.
Three cuvées named Recif, Tide coefficient, On the waves, names that smell the ocean, in the blink of an eye to the territory that saw them born. Bottles vinified with as few inputs as possible, in an organic and natural spirit.
Fun and living wines, as Julien likes to define them: thought to be a bus at the table with friends, to share.
More than a cellar: a meeting place!
The Chai Côtier is also a place of exchange.
Julien offers tours and tasting workshops on reservation to make the world of wine more accessible.
A pedagogical approach, which fits perfectly with his journey and his desire to share rather than mystify.
A stone's throw from Bayonne, it is a precious address for natural wine lovers and lovers who love the sincere stories behind the bottles.
